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INTRODUCTION. 



It was one of the significant declarations of 
the eminent English critic and moralist who has 
recently passed from us, that " conduct is three- 
fourths of life." Over against this assertion we 
may place the remark of a writer on psychology, 
Professor William James, who says that " three- 
fourths of our daily conduct consists in simply 
taking off the brakes, and letting ideas and im- 
pulses have their way." The two are worth con- 
sidering together. One is the declaration of a 
moralist, the other the positive opinion of a 
trained student of modern science ; and both are 
undoubtedly true. Conduct is three-fourths of 
life, and three-fourths of our average conduct is 
simply taking off the brakes and letting things 

What a lesson for thoughtful people in these 
two warnings ! One-fourth of life is given up to 
eating and sleeping, to caring for purely bodily 
needs ; three-fourths of life are devoted to some 

iii 



iv 



INTRODUCTION. 



form of mental or physical activity that has no 
direct connection with physical requirements, and 
may therefore be styled conduct as distinguished 
from habit; and of this conduct, so important to 
our own welfare, so important to the welfare of 
others, three-fourths is on the average simply a 
giving way to natural impulses, a yielding, without 
let or hindrance, to the impressions and excita- 
tions that follow one another with no definite se- 
quence from moment to moment ; — it is living at 
random and without any definite ideal. 

What, then, is the duty of the man or woman 
who realizes that conduct is three-fourths of life, 
and that the happiness and value of life depend 
upon conduct ? Plainly, to have the brakes in 
good working order and to keep them in constant 
use. A steam-engine without a governor is not 
so useless or dangerous as is a man or woman 
with no power of self-control. How useful, when 
natural impulse would have its w r ay, is oftentime 
the retarding friction of a noble purpose. Would 
you yield to selfishness, would you be angry, 
would vou drift into hatred ? Put on the brakes ; 
check the machinery before it can do harm ; re- 
strain the misdirected power, and reserve it for 
beneficent uses. 



INTRODUCTION. 



V 



But it is not enough to check, — sometimes we 
must stimulate, — and the best brake is the bal- 
ance-wheel which stores up power against the 
time of need. Such a balance-w 7 heel in matters 
of conduct is supplied by a judicious store of 
moral and religious truths, and for this purpose 
has the present collection been put together. It 
is the product of a long and extended course of 
reading, of painstaking selection, and is inspired 
by a sincere desire to benefit all who may become 
familiar with its contents. The hope of both 
compiler and editor is that it may serve in some 
manner to enlarge the idea of personal duty, to 
lessen the little offences that are so apt to make 
the life in common unbearable, to incite to words 
and deeds of mutual kindliness, to broaden and 
deepen the sense of charity, which is the sense of 
love. As things now are there must be evil in 
the world, hatred among men, cruelty and the 
suffering that comes of cruelty on every side. It 
remains for those who aspire to do good, who 
would live in the spirit and not in the gratifica- 
tion of bodily passions and desires, who would be 
glad to see the kingdom of God on earth, to sink 
their trivial differences of creed and doctrine, to 
open the selfish barriers that divide their forces, 



vi 



INTRODUCTION 



and to labor together in fraternal union and un- 
failing sympathy to make their own lives better 
and nobler, to help each other over the rough 
places, and to exercise a wholesome and elevating 
influence upon those with whom they come in con- 
tact in their brief passage through this present 
world. " If ye know these things, happy are ye 
if ye do them." 



January 1. 

As thy days, so shall thy strength be. — Deut. 
xxxiii. 25. 

T^HE New Year is not present with us, only a 
~^ new day. So it will be continually ; we shall 
see but one day at a time. ... If each day is 
lived aright the whole year will be right ; if each 
day is wrong the year will be all wrong. . . . 
Each day is a white page to be written ; write it 
beautifully, and the book of the year will be 
beautiful. 

J. H. Bliss. 

Life is a leaf of paper white 
Whereon each one of us may write 
His word or two, and then comes night. 

" Lo! time and space enough," we cry, 
" To write an epic ! " so we try 
Our nibs upon the edge, and die. 

Greatly begin ! though thou have time 
But for a line, be that sublime,— 
Not failure, but low aim, is crime. 

J. R. Lowell. 

(0 



January 2. 

I will be glad and rejoice i?i thee. — Psalm ix. 2. 



T WILL enjoy all things in God, and God in all 
things : nothing in itself : so shall my joys 
neither change nor perish. For. however the 
things themselves alter or fade, yet he, in whom 
they are mine, is ever like himself ; constant and 
everlasting. 

Bishop Hall. 



I sit within my room, and joy to find 

That Thou who always lov'st art with me here, 
That I am never left by Thee behind, 

But by thyself Thou keep'st me ever near ; 
The fire burns brighter when with Thee I look, 

And seems a kinder servant sent to me ; 
With gladder heart I read Thy holy book, 

Because Thou art the eyes by which I ?ee ; 
This aged chair, that table, watch, and door, 

Around in ready service ever wait ; 
Nor can I ask of Thee a menial more 

To fill the measure of my large estate, 
For Thou thyself, with all a Father's care, 
Where'er I turn art ever with me there. 

Jones Very. 

00 



January 3. 



Forbearing one another, and forgiving one an- 
other, if any man have a quarrel against any : 
even as CJwist forgave you, so also do ye. ■ — Col. 
iii. 13. 

TJDRBEAR; give up a little; take less than 
belongs to you ; endure more than should be 
put upon you. Make allowance for another's 
judgment of the case : differing in constitution, 
circumstances, and interests, we shall often de- 
cide differently about the justice and integrity of 
things ; and mutual concessions alone can heal 
the breaches and bridge over the chasms between 
us. While quick resentment and stiff mainte- 
nance of our position will breed endless dispute 
and bitterness. 

C. A. Bartol. 

Be patient, patient, and the hasty word, 
Which loose will raven like the evening wolf, 
Hold in the bars of safety. Bear the cross 
Fibre of things, the thousand vexing cares, 
With such a sweet, ennobling fortitude, 
Such gentle bravery, that the heart will find 
In the still fold a fairer victory 
Than in the stormy field, and home itself 
Win to rejoicing peace. 

F. R. Abbe. 

(3) 



January 4. 



The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mus- 
tard seed, . . . which indeed is the least of all 
seeds : but when it is grown, it is the greatest 
among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds 
of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. — 
Matt. xiii. 31, 32. 

T^ACH one of us is bound to make the little 
circle in which he lives better and happier ; 
each of us is bound to see that out of that small 
circle the widest good may flow ; each of us may 
have fixed in his mind the thought that out of a 
single household may flow influences which shall 
stimulate the whole commonwealth and the whole 
civilized world. 

Dean Stanley. 

What we call little things are merely the 
causes of great things. . . . One single black 
speck may be the beginning of a gangrene, of a 
storm, of a revolution. 

Amiel. . 

O small beginnings, ye are great and strong, 
Based on a faithful heart and weariless brain ! 

Ye build the future fair, ye conquer wrong, 
Ye earn the crown and wear it not in vain. 

J. R. Lowell. 

(4) 



January 5. 



We then, as workers together with him, beseech 
you also that ye receive not the grace of God in 



AKE hold with God, in his steady work for 



lifting up the world ; and you shall fairly for- 
get that there are these grasshoppers and crickets 
screaming and chirping and asking questions 
around you, even if they aspire so far, in their 
wrangling disputations, as to doubt whether there 
be any world, be any heaven, be any God, or any 
life worth living. Let your vine blossom and 
bear fruit, let the fruit ripen and hang in fragrant 
and luscious bunches heavy upon the bough, and 
you do not put the knife to the bark to see if the 
vine is alive. Nay, you do not argue with any 
one who asks you if it be worth the manure you 
spread about its roots. Live in the life which en- 
larges, live with all your might in the Life of God, 
and you forget that any one has asked whether 
life is worth the living. 



On ! let all the soul within you, 
For the truth's sake, go abroad ! 

Strike ! let every nerve and sinew 
Tell on ages — tell for God ! 

Bishop Coxe. 



vain. 



ii. Cor. vi. i. 




E. E. Hale. 



(5) 



January 6. 

And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake 
it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body 
which is given for you : this do in remembrance of 
me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, 
This cup is the New Testa?nent i?i my blood, which 
is shed for you. — Luke xxii. 19, 20. 

HTHOU oughtest to beware of curious and un_ 
profitable searching into this most profound 
sacrament, if thou wilt not be plunged into the 
depths of doubt. . . . It is a blessed simplicity 
when a man leaves the difficult way of questions 
and disputings, and goes forward in the plain and 
firm path of God's commandments. 

Thomas a Kempis. 

In many climes without avail, 
Thou hast spent thy life for the Holy Grail ; 
Behold, it is here, — this cup which thou 
Didst fill at the streamlet for me but now ; 
This crust is my body broken for thee, 
This water His blood that died on the tree ; 
The Holy Supper is kept, indeed, 
In whatso we share with another's need ; 
Not what we give, but what we share, — 
For the gift without the giver is bare ; 
Who gives himself with his alms feeds three — 
Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me. 

J. R. Lowell. 

(6) 



January 7. 

Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her 
paths are peace. — Prov. iii. 17. 

TF you wish to know whether you are a Chris- 
tian, inquire of yourself whether, in and for 
the love of God, you seek to make happy those 
about you by smiles and pleasant sayings. . . . 
Are you a comfortable person to live with ? Are 
you pleasant to have about ? 

Gail Hamilton. 

Pleasant Smiles ; gentle Tones ; cheery Greet- 
ings ; Tempers sweet under a headache, or a busi- 
ness care, or the children's noise ; the ready bub- 
bling over of Thoughtfulness for one another, — 
and habits of smiling, greeting, forbearing, think- 
ing in these ways. It is these above all else 
which make one's home " a building of God, a 
house not made with hands " ; these that we hear 
in the song of " Home, Sweet Home." 

William C. Gannett. 

Large bounties to restore we wish in vain, 

But all may shun the guilt of giving pain. 

To bless mankind with tides of flowing wealth, 

With power to grace them, or to crown with health, 

Our little lot denies, but Heaven decrees 

To all the gift of ministering ease. 

Hannah More. 

(7) 



January 8. 



Work out you?' own salvation with fear and 
trembling. — Phil. ii. 12. 

TVJO man could believe more fully that God and 



God only saves us than did St. Paul ; but 
it is only as we work out our own salvation. It 
is salvation because it is worked out, — not 
awaited, not trusted for, not left to chance, . . . 
not a thing of church, nor of divine decree, nor of 
divine mercy, nor of probable outcome in future 
worlds, but a process of action that by this very 
quality secures the end of salvation. For salva- 
tion is character ; it is perfected manhood ; it is 
evil cast out and good achieved ; it is the will 
practised in righteousness. 




T. T. HUNGER. 



What shall I do to gain eternal life ? 

Discharge aright 
The simple dues with which each day is rife, 

Yea, with thy might. 
Ere perfect scheme of action thou devise 

Will life be fled, 
While he who ever acts as conscience cries 

Shall live, though dead. 

Schiller. 



(8) 



January 9. 

Casting all your care upon him ; for he careth for 
you. — i. Peter v. 7. 



TTE that taketh his own cares upon himself 
loads himself in vain with an uneasy bur- 
den. The fear of what may come, expectation of 
what will come, desire of what will not come, and 
inability of redressing all these, must needs breed 
him continual torment. I will cast my cares upon 
God ; he hath bidden me ; they cannot hurt him ; 
he can redress them. 

Bishop Hall. 



The child leans on its parent's breast, 
Leaves there its cares, and is at rest ; 
The bird sits singing by his nest, 

And tells aloud 
His trust in God, and so is blest 

'Neath every cloud. 

The heart that trusts forever sings,. 
And feels as light as it had wings ; 

Come good or ill, — 
Whate'er to-day, to-morrow brings, — 

It. is His will. 

Isaac Williams. 

(9) 



January 10. 

Now is the judgment of this world. — John 
xii. 31. 

TS there but one day of judgment ? Why, for 
us every day is a day of judgment — every day 
is a Dies Irce, and writes its irrevocable edict in 
the flames of the West. Think you that judg- 
ment waits till the doors of the grave are opened ? 
It waits at the doors of your houses — it waits at 
the corners of vour streets; we are in the midst 
of judgment — the insects that we crush are 
our judges — the moments we fret away are our 
judges — the elements that feed us judge us as 
they minister — and the pleasures that deceive 
us judge us as they indulge. 

J. Ruskin. 



We shape ourselves the joy or fear 
Of which the coming life is made, 

And fill our future's atmosphere 
With sunshine or with shade. 

The tissue of the life to be 

We weave with colors all our own 

And in the field of Destiny 
We reap as we have sown. 

J. G. Whittier. 

(10) 



January 11. 



A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast. 
— Prov. xii. 10. 



TV /TISTRESSES of homes, don't let there be a 
dog or a cat or a donkey or any other creat- 
ure, in or about your homes, which shrinks when 
a man or a woman approaches it. And here I 
may add that, without specially victimizing the 
animals through dislike, a household frequently 
makes the life of some poor brute one long mar- 
tyrdom through neglect. The responsibility of 
this neglect lies primarily with the mistress of 
the house. She must not only direct her ser- 
vants, but see that her directions are carried out, 
in the way of affording water, food, and needful 
exercise. A pretty " Kingdom of Heaven " some 
houses would be if the poor brutes could speak. 

Frances Power Cobbe, 



He prayeth best who loveth best 
All things both great and small. 

For the clear Lord who loveth us 
He made and loveth all. 

Coleridge. 



January 12. 



Pray one for another. — James v. i6. 

* 

T TNSELFISHNESS is another element of 
prayer. To pray means that all one's sym- 
pathies are quickened ; that one sees the good of 
others ; that one pities men's toil and sorrow ; 
that one, choosing between the good of the world 
and his own private good, would prefer to put 
his own private interests under. So far as this 
disinterested element comes into prayer, and 
prayer is the earnest longing after the highest 
welfare of others, it is rational. 

C. F. Dole. 



Scarcely have I asked in prayer 
That which others might not share. 
I who hear with secret shame 
Praise that paineth more than blame, 
Rich alone in favors lent, 
Virtuous by accident, 
Doubtful where I fain would rest, 
Frailest where I seem the best, 
Only strong for lack of test, — 
What am I that I should press 
Special pleas of selfishness, 
Coolly mounting into heaven 
On my neighbor unforgiven ? 

J. G. Whittier. 

(12) 



January 13. 



Verily I say unto yon, inasmuch as ye did it not 
to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. — 
Matt. xxv. 45. 

H^HE season is upon us that suggests our 
duties to the needy. The suffering in Bos- 
ton every winter is immense. But it might be 
greatly relieved, almost wholly so, if, in addition 
to the institutions that have organized Christ's 
love, each family that can afford to would seek 
out some one miserable chamber or desolate 
cellar, and do what it can to supply its inmates 
with work and food and cheer. And then what 
an immense spiritual benefit would result, how 
much sweet peace breathe around our own hearts 
from the consciousness of the heavenly benedic- 
tion ! 

Starr King. 

Jesus sought the sad and burdened, 
When from heaven to earth he came ; 

Dost thou call Him Lord and Master? 
Dost thou bear His holy name ? 

Then arise, and seek to follow 

Where the voice of Duty leads ; 
Give thyself to works of mercy, 

Loving thoughts, and kindly deeds. 

C. A. Means. 

(13) 



January 14 



My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into 
divers temptations. — James i. 2. 

HHHIS is our doctrine — the permanent value 
of trial — that when a man conquers his ad- 
versaries and his difficulties, it is not as if he 
had never encountered them. Their power still 
kept is in all his future life. They are not only 
events in his past history, they are elements in all 
his present character. His victory is colored 
with the hard struggle that won it. 

Phillips Brooks. 



And lo ! all round us His bright servants stand ; 
Events, His duteous ministers and wise, 
With frowning brows, perhaps, for their disguise, 
But with such wells of love in their deep eyes, 

And such strong rescue hidden in their hands ! 

And our lives may in glory move along; 

First holy white, and then alhgood, and fair 
For our dear Lord to see. — the meanest thong 

Of all that whips us, welcome, — and the air 
We breathe, self-shaped into a natural song. 

H. S. Sutton. 



(14) 



January 15. 

Oh, that I knew where I might find him ! — Job 
xxiii. 3. 

T DO not live when I lose faith in the existence 
of a God ; I should long ago have killed 
myself if I had not had a dim hope of finding 
Him. I only really live when I feel and seek 
Him. " What more, then, do I seek ? " A 
voice seemed to cry within me, " This is He, He 
without whom there is no life. To know God 
and to live are one. God is life." Live to seek 
God, and life will not be without Him. And 
stronger than ever rose up life within and around 
me, and the light that then shone never left me 
again. 

Count L. Tolstoi. 

My God, my God, let me for once look on thee 

As though naught else existed, we alone ! 

And as creation crumbles, my soul's spark 

Expands till I can say, — Even from myself 

I need thee and I feel thee and I love thee : 

I do not plead my rapture in thy works 

For love of thee, nor that I feel as one 

Who cannot die : but there is that in me 

Which turns to thee, which loves, as which should love. 

Robert Browning. 

(is) 



January 16. 



What, could ye not watch with me one hour ? ■ — 
Matt. xxvi. 40. 



T3E certain of this, that no misery can be equal 
to that which a man feels who is conscious 
that he has proved unequal to his part, who has 
deserted the post his captain set him, and who, 
when men said, " Such and such a one is there on 
guard, there is no need to take further heed," 
has left his watch, or quailed before the foeman, 
to the loss, perhaps the total ruin, of the cause he 
had made his choice. 

J. H. Shorthouse. 



Say not the struggle naught availeth, 
The labor and the wounds are vain, 

The enemy faints not nor faileth, 

And as things have been they remain. 

If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars ; 

It may be, in yon smoke concealed, 
Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers, 

And, but for you, possess the field. 

Arthur Hugh Clough. 

(16) 



January 17. 

But ye, brethren, be not weary in well-doing. — 
ii. Thess. iii. 13. 

T ET reverent, joyful thanks be ever given for 
— 4 usefulness in doing and in being. We may 
lie down tired with our efforts, we may wake 
more tired, but as we think, " What now ? " there 
flashes across the mind some fresh act of self- 
sacrifice or of ability to help in some hidden or 
visible manner, and there comes instant strength 
to reap fruition. The purpose sends the blood 
to the weary limbs, and the cheer of the heart 
quiets the aching head. Never too poor, too 
ugly, too dull, too sick, too friendless, to be use- 
ful to some one. Now, one can live, no matter 
what may be the pain in living ; and heaven is 
use, too. That glory ceases not with life. 

Kate Gannett Wells. 

We need — each and all — to be needed, 
To feel we have something to give 
Towards soothing the moan of earth's hunger ; 
And we know that then only we live 
When we feed one another, as we have been fed 
From the hand that gives body and spirit their bread. 

Lucy Larcom. 

(17) 



January 18. 



For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and 
by thy words thou shalt be condemned. — Matt. 
xii. 37. 



A NOTHER rule is not to let familiarity swal- 
low up all courtesy. Many of us have a 
habit of saying to those with whom we live such 
things as we say about strangers behind their 
backs. There is no place where real politeness 
is of more value than where we mostly think it 
would be superfluous. You may say more truth, 
or rather speak out more plainly, to your asso- 
ciates, but not less courteously than you do to 
strangers. 

Sir Arthur Helps. 



Words are mighty, words are living: 

Serpents with their venomous stings, 
Or bright angels crowding round us, 

With heaven's light upon their wings; 
Every word has its own spirit, 

True or false, that never dies ; 
Every word man's lips have uttered 

Echoes in God's skies. 

Adelaide Procter. 

(18) 



January 19. 

far we walk by faith, not by sight. — n. Cor. v. 7. 



LL I have seen teaches me to trust the Crea- 



tor for all I have not seen. Whatever it be 
which the great Providence prepares for us, it 
must be something large and generous, and in the 
great style of his works. The future must be up 
to the style of our faculties — of memory, of hope, 
of imagination of reason. 



I see not a step before me, 
As I tread on another year : 

But the past is all in God's keeping, 
The future his mercy shall clear, 

And what looks dark in the distance 
May brighten as I draw near. 



I am always content with that w 7 hich happens, 
for I think that what God chooses is better than 
what I choose. 




Emerson. 



Mary G. Brainerd. 



Epictetus. 



('9) 



January 20 



And take no heed unto all the words that are 
spoke?i ; lest thou hear thy servant curse thee. — 
Eccl. vii. 21. 



ET It Pass ! " Oh. how many souls, on the 



4 point of being disturbed and troubled, these 
simple words have left serene and peaceful ! 
Something has wounded us by its want of deli- 
cacy. " Let it pass " ; no one will think any more 
of it. A painful report is going to separate us 
from an old friend. " Let it pass," and we will 
preserve the peace of our souls and holy charity. 
A bitter or unjust word irritates us. "Let it 
pass " ; he from whom it escaped will be only too 
happy to see that we have forgotten it. How is 
it that we are so careful to remove the thorns 
from our path lest they should wound us, and yet 
we can take pleasure in gathering and burying in 
our hearts the thorns that we encounter in the 
family circle ? Surely, we are very unreasonable. 




"Golden Sands. 



Why should we vex our foolish minds 

So much from day to day, 
With what an idle world concerning us 

May think or say ? 

Edward C as wall. 



(20) 



January 21. 



If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live 
peaceably with all men. — Rom. xii. 18. 



THIRST keep thyself in peace, and then thou 
shalt be able to make peace among others. 
. . . It is no great matter to associate with the 
good and gentle, for this is naturally pleasing to 
all, and every one willingly enjoyeth peace, and 
loveth those best that agree with him. But to be 
able to live with hard and perverse persons, or 
with the disorderly, or with such as go contrary 
to us, is a great grace, and a commendable and 
manly thing. 

Thomas a Kempis. 



Calm soul of all things ! make it mine 

To feel, amid the city's jar, 
That there abides a peace of thine 

Man did not make, and cannot mar. 

The will to neither strive nor cry, 
The power to feel with others give ! 

Calm, calm me more ! nor let me die 
Before I have begun to live. 

Matthew Arnold. 

(21) 



January 22. 



Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. — 
Eph. v. 16. 



XLY take yesterday as a specimen of life. 



What was it with most of us ? A dav of sin. 
Was it sin palpable and dark, such as we shall 
remember painfully this day year? Nay, — un- 
kindness, petulance, wasted time, opportunities 
lost, frivolous conversation, that was our chief 
guilt. And yet, with all that, trifling as it may 
be, when it comes to be the history of life, does 
it not leave behind a restless, undefmable sense 
of fault, a vague idea of debt, but to what extent 
we know not, perhaps the more wretched just 
because it is so uncertain ? 



The golden moments in the stream of life rush 
past us, and we see nothing but sand : the angels 




F. W. Robertson. 




So much to do, so little done ! 
With sleepless eyes I saw the sun ; 
His beamless disk in darkness lay, 
The dreadful ghost of YESTERDAY. 



J. J. Piatt. 



(22) 



January 23. 



When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, 
then thou knew est my path. — Ps. cxlii. 3. 

HPHIXK when you are unhappy because you 
turned to the Right, how things would have 
been had you gone to the Left. The result will 
verv likely be that you will find that you have 
been repenting, accusing yourself, and bemoan- 
ing your folly, with very little reason. Think, 
too, that the evils which are present with you are 
keenly felt, while the evils which do not touch 
you are lightly regarded. The thorn which has 
stuck itself into your hand is a much more real 
and serious matter than a much bigger thorn 
which you merely look at, haying been desired to 
consider how you would like it stuck into you. 

A. H. K. Boyd. 

Just as God leads, I onward go, 
Oft amid thorns and briers keen ; 

God does not yet His guidance show, 
But in the end it shall be seen, 

How, by a loving Father's will, 

Faithful and true, He leads me still, 
My trembling footsteps guiding. 

Lampertius. 

(23) 



January 24. 



Charge them that are rich in this world, that 
they be not high-minded. . . . That they do good, that 
they be rich in good works. - — i. Tim. vi. 17, 18. 

A LL good Christians believe, of course, that 
they ought to love their neighbors as them- 
selves ; but there are many among them who 
need help in answering the question, " Who is 
my neighbor ? " The idea that the operatives in 
his factory, the brakemen on his freight trains, 
the miners in his coal mines are his neighbors, is 
an idea that does not come home to many a good 
Christian. . . . Over the entrance to the throng- 
ing avenues and the humming workshops of the 
industrial realm, an unmoral science has written, 
in iron letters : " ALL LOVE ABANDON, YE 
WHO ENTER HERE ! " If beyond those por- 
tals is pandemonium, who can wonder? The 
first business of the Church of God is to preach 
that legend down, and to put in place of it: 
" YOUR WAGE-WORKER IS YOUR NEAR- 
EST NEIGHBOR." 

Washington Gladden. 

O brother man ! fold to thy heart thy brother ; 

Where pity dwells, the peace of God is there ; 
To worship rightly is to love each other, 

Each smile a hymn, each kindly word a prayer. 

J. G. Whittier. 

(24) 



January 25. 

What God hath cleansed, that call not thou 
common. — Acts x. 15. 

TN one of Murillo's pictures in the Louvre, he 
shows us the interior of a convent kitchen ; 
but doing the work there are, not mortals in old 
dresses, but beautiful white-winged angels. One 
serenely puts the kettle on the fire to boil, and 
one is lifting up a pail of water with heavenly 
grace, and one is at the kitchen dresser reaching 
up for plates ; and I believe there is a little 
cherub running about and getting in the way, 
trying to help. What the old monkish legend 
that it represented is, I do not know. But as 
the painter puts it to you on his canvas all are 
so busy, and working with such a will, and so 
refining the work as they do it, that somehow you 
forget that pans are pans and pots pots, and 
only think of the angels, and how very natural 
and beautiful kitchen work is. 

William C. Gannett. 

The task of the present 

Be sure to fulfil; 
If irksome, or pleasant, 

Be true to it still. 

Thomas Hill. 

(25) 



January 26. 



Charity never faileth. — i. Cor. xiii. 8. 



VERY good act is Charity. Giving water to 



the thirsty is charity. Removing stones and 
thorns from the road is charity. Exhorting your 
fellow-men to virtuous deeds is charity. Smiling 
in your brother's face is charity. Putting a wan- 
derer in the right path is charity. A man's true 
wealth is the good he does in this world. When 
he dies, mortals will ask what property has he left 
behind him ; but angels will inquire, " What good 
deeds hast thou sent before thee ? " 



" What wouldst thou be ? " 
A blessing to each one surrounding me ; 
A chalice of dew to the weary heart, 
A sunbeam of joy bidding sorrow depart, 
To the storm-tossed vessel a beacon light, 
A nightingale song in the darkest night, 
A beckoning hand to a far-off goal, 
An angel of love to each friendless soul, 

Such would I be. 
Oh, that such happiness were for me. 

Frances R. Havergal. 




Mahomet. 



(26) 



January 27. 



He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the 
wind. — Prov. xi. 29. 

T TOW happy home might generally be made 
but for foolish quarrels, or misunderstand- 
ings, as they are well named ! It is our own 
fault if we are querulous or ill-humored ; nor need 
we, though this be less easy, allow ourselves to 
be made unhappy by the querulousness or ill- 
humor of others. 

Sir John Lubbock. 

Remember that every person, however low, has 
rights and feeli?igs. In all contentions let peace 
be your object rather than triumph : value triumph 
only as the means of peace. 

Sydney Smith. 



Since trifles make the sum of human things, 
And half our misery from our foibles springs; 
Since life's best joys consist in peace and ease, 
And though but few can serve, yet all may please, 
Then let the ungentle spirit learn from hence, 
A small unkindness is a great offence. 

Hannah More. 

(27) 



January 28. 



Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory ; 
but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better 
than themselves. — Phil. ii. 3. 



TTE who desires to become a spiritual man 
must not be ever taking note of others, and, 
above all, of their sins, lest he fall into wrath and 
bitterness, and a judging spirit towards his neigh- 
bors. O children, this works such great mischief 
in a man's soul as it is miserable to think of; 
wherefore, as you love God, shun this evil temper, 
and turn your eyes full upon yourselves, and see 
if you cannot discover the same fault in your- 
selves, either in times past or nowadays. 

John Tauler. 



The look, the air, that frets thy sight, 

May be a token that below 
The soul has closed in deadly fight 

With some infernal fiery foe, 
Whose glance would scorch thy smiling grace, 
And cast thee shuddering on thy face. 

Adelaide Procter. 

(28) 



January 29. 



But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting 
on the breastplate of faith and love. — i. Thess. 
v. 8. 

TT is well to consider, before I enter on the 
duties of the day, what are my purposes of 
self-improvement ; what my means and will of 
promoting the good of others. It is little I can 
do at most ; but let that little be done well. . . . 
Existence is not given to be wasted in the pros- 
ecution of selfish plans, or in advancing arid ex- 
ecuting trifling ones. Time has been freely given, 
and with it a high capacity to live worthily, and a 
sure strength to do well. Let me remember that 
I am responsible for the use I make of these en- 
dowments. 

Dorothea Dix. 



Lord, for to-morrow and its needs 

I do not pray : 
Keep me from stain of sin, 

Just for to-day. 

Let me both diligently work 

And duly pray : 
Let me be kind in word and deed, 

Just for to-day. 

(29) 



January 30. 



Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on 
this jig tree, and find none: cut it down ; why cum- 
ber eth it the ground I — Luke xiii. 7. 

T INFERTILE piety is a curse. It is a by- 
^ word for the heathen, and a hissing for the 
infidel The religious man who abounds in 
words, as the fig tiee in leaves, who is full of 
doctrines and authorities, but cannot yield a 
practical life upon which tired wayfarers can 
quench their hunger and thirst, only cumbers the 
ground. The test of religion is in its reproduc- 
tiveness. . . . Any church-member who does not 
brim? forth an abundance of s:ood fruit must be 
taken away and cast into the fire. The barren- 
ness of speculation, the fruitless controversies 
often indulged in. the dearth of genuine spiritu- 
ality and practical usefulness in religious bodies, 
might well necessitate the parable of the fig tree. 

P. C. MOZOOMDAR. 

From the dark cloud flows the life-giving shower ; 
From the rough sod blows the soft-breathing flower ; 
From the small insect the rich coral bower ; 
Only man, in his plan, shrinks from his part. 

F. S. Osgood. 



(30) 



January 31. 



Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the 
dead, how say some among you that there is no res- 
urrection of the dead 7 — i. Cor. xv. 12. 

'HPHERE are empty chairs in the home ; and 



voices we have loved to hear are silent. We 
shall find them all in heaven. In the church- 
yard, ... do you think they sleep there ? No, 
no. The body to dust, the spirit to God who 
gave it. The home circles will be filled again. 
We shall meet our friends there. 



Farewell, friends ! Yet not farewell ; 
Where I am, ye too shall dwell. 
I am gone before your face 
A moment's time, a little space ; 
When ye come where I have stepped, 
Ye will wonder why ye wept ; 
Ye will know, by wise love taught, 
That here is all, and there is naught. 
Weep awhile, if ye are fain, — 
Sunshine still must follow rain,— 
Only not at death; for death, 
Now I know, is that first breath 
Which our souls draw when we enter 
Life, which is of all life centre. 




G. H. Vibbert. 



Sir Edwin Arnold. 



(30 



February 1 



Be ye also ready : for in such an hour as ye 
think not the Son of Man cometh. — Matt. xxiv. 44. 



T^ACH day is a new life and an abridgment of 
the whole. I will so live as if I counted 
every day my first and my last ; as if I began to 
live but then, and should live no more afterwards. 

Bishop Hall. 



If I were told that I should die to-morrow, 

That the next sun which sinks 
Should bear me past all fear and sorrow, . . . 

What should I do ? 
I do not think that I should shrink or falter, 

But just go on, 
Doing my work, nor change, nor seek to alter 

Aught that is gone ; 
But rise, and move, and love, and smile, and pray 

For one more day. 
And lying down at night for a last sleeping, 

Say in that ear 
Which hearkens ever, — " Lord, within Thy keeping, 

How should I fear ? 
And when to-morrow brings Thee nearer still, 

Do Thou Thy will." 

Susan Coolidge. 

(32) 



February 2. 

He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly, — Prov. 
xiv. 17. 

IVTEVER do anything that can denote an 
angry mind ; for, although everybody is 
born with a certain degree of passion, and from 
untoward circumstances will sometimes feel its 
operation, and be what they call " out of humor," 
yet a sensible man or woman will never allow it 
to be discovered. Check and restrain it. Never 
make any determination until you find it has 
entirely subsided ; and always avoid saying any- 
thing that you may wish unsaid. 

Lord Collingwood. 

There are few who can conceive how instru- 
mental the tongue is to salvation or condemna- 
tion. Quesnel. 

Make us of one heart and mind, 
Courteous, merciful, and kind; 
Lowly, meek in thought and word, 
Ne'er by fretful passion stirred. 

Free from anger, free from pride, 
Let us thus in God abide ; 
All the depth of love express, 
All the height of holiness. 

Charles Wesley. 

(33) 



February 3. 



Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly 
love; i?i honor preferring one anotlier. — Rom. 
xii. 10. 

' J 'HE power of being able to keep a household 
from fretting and complaining and from vio- 
lent tempers ; the power of being able to encour- 
age, nourish, and stimulate the freedom and 
growth of others — is gained from there having 
been built up in the minds of all in the house, as 
the first motive of life, the great Christian law — 
Christian because entirely human — "Think of 
others more than of yourself, and of others' happi- 
ness more than of your own un happiness." And 
of this law the best definition to remember is a 
word of St. Paul's, " In honor preferring one an- 
other." . . . This is true courtesy. It is its very 
flower ; it is the essence of Christ's teaching set 
to music in daily life. It will bring out all the 
good in others ; it will bring out what is best in 
yourself ; it will make your home like very 
heaven. Stopford A. Brooke. 

Released from that fraternal law 

Which shares the common bale and bliss, 

No sadder lot could folly draw 

Or sin provoke from fate than this. 

J. G. Whittier. 

(34) 



February 4. 

And fear ?iot them which kill the body, but are ?iot 
able to kill the soul. — Matt. x. 28. 



T MUST die, but must I then die sorrowing? I 
must be put in chains. Must I then also la- 
ment ? I must go into exile. Can I then be pre- 
vented from ofoins; with cheerfulness and content- 
ment ? But I will put you in prison. Alan, what 
are you saying ? You can put my body in prison, 
but my mind not even Zeus himself can over- 
power. 

Epictetus. 



That which does not make a man worse than he 
was, also does not make his life worse, nor does 
it harm him either from without or from within. 

Marcus Aurelius. 



Each in his hidden sphere of joy or woe 
Our hermit spirits dwell, and range- apart ; 

Our eves see all around in gloom or glow — 

Hues of their own, fresh borrowed from the heart. 

Keble. 

(35) 



February 5. 

I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving. — 
Ps. cxvi. 17. 



TT is the close of the day. . . . The world is shut 
out, and we are alone with hearts which beat 
in warm sympathy with our own. We are about 
to thank God ; but let us see first whether we are 
ready to thank him with our hearts. Are we 
really sensible of the love which has attended us 
through the day ? Are we sensible that it was 
God's love w T hich shone upon us from the kind 
eyes of earthly affection, or when in a friend's 
words, in a book which we opened for a moment, 
a thought came to us of high and generous virtue, 
which inspired us for the moment with a breath- 
ing after the same ? ... If we have seen God in 
these gifts, then we shall thank him sincerely 
now. 

J. F. Clarke. 

O Holy Father ! 'mid the calm 

And stillness of this evening hour, 

We would lift up our solemn psalm, 
To praise thy goodness and thy power. 

W. H. Burleigh. 

(36) 



February 6. 

For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. — 
Phil. i. 21. 

T IFE without an eternity to follow it is like a 
— 4 half-written sentence, which has no meaning 
till the other half is added. All our deeds, our 
sufferings, our attempts at virtue, are without sig- 
nificance unless there comes in the fulness of an 
eternal life to consummate them all in triumphant 
holiness. 

Amory Battles. 



Franklin said, " Life is rather a state of embryo, 
a preparation for life. A man is not completely 
born until he has passed through death." 

Emerson. 



I lay me down to sleep 



With little thought or care 



Whether mv waking find 



Me here or there. 



My half-day's work is dene, 
And this is all my part ; 

To give a patient God 
My patient heart. 

(37) 



February 7. 



First the blade, thc7t the ear, after that the full 
corn i?i the ear. — Mark iv. 28. 

A PERFECT life is not attained in a day. 



Men cannot cut 'cross lots, or take an air 
line for the kingdom of heaven. If we had our 
way, we should have the bud, the blossom, and 
the ripened fruit at the same time. But this is 
not God's method. He gives us " first the blade, 
then the ear, afterwards the full corn in the ear." 
Character is a growth, and it requires time to 
perfect the full rounded Christian. 



He who asks of life nothing but the improve- 
ment of his own nature, and a continuous moral 
progress towards inward contentment and relig- 
ious submission, is less liable than any other to 
miss and waste life. 




D. C. Tomlinson. 



Amiel. 



Does the road wind up hill all the way? 

Yes, to the very end. 
Will the day's journey take the whole long day ? 

From morn to night, my friend. 



Christina G. Rossetti. 



(38) 



February 8. 



And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the 
Lord, and not unto men. - — Col. iii. 23. 



/"HETHER a life is noble or ignoble de- 



v pends not on the calling which is adopted, 
but on the spirit in which it is followed. The 
humblest life may be noble, while that of the 
most powerful monarch or the greatest genius 
may be contemptible. 



The problem set before us is to bring our 
daily task into the temple of contemplation, and 
ply it there ; to act as in the presence of God. to 
interfuse one's little part with religion. ... So 
mav we dignify and consecrate the meanest of 

* CD J 

occupations. 




Sir John Lubbock. 



Amiel. 



Thee may I set at my right hand, 
Whose eyes mine inmost spirit see ; 

And labor on at thy command, 
And offer all my works to thee. 



Charles Wesley. 



K39) 



February 9. 



Death and life a?'e in the pozver of the tongue ; 
and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. — 
Prov. xviii. 21. 

n^HERE are two words so short that they are 



uttered before reflection has time to repress 
them. So light that they flutter from mouth to 
mouth, without our even knowing from whose 
lips they came. So powerful that they justify 
slander, authorize calumny, reassure the most 
timorous consciences, and circulate without con- 
tradiction the gossip which destroys reputations 
and prepares the ruin and despair of families. 
They are called, " They say." 

" Golden Sands." 



Now might it only perish there, nor further go ! 
Ah me, a quick and eager ear 
Caught up the little-meaning sound ! 
Another voice has breathed it clear, 
And so it wandered round 
From ear to lip, from lip to ear, 

Until it reached a gentle heart, and that — it broke. 




A whisper broke the air, — 

A soft light tone, and low. 

Yet barbed with shame and woe ; 



L. E. Landon, 



(40) 



February 10. 

Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right 
hand shall hold me. — Ps. cxxxix. 10. 

TD EMEMBER there is no exigency in which 
the work of life should cease. Lying help- 
less on your bed, you have still as much to do as 
he that ploughs the field, frequents the marts of 
business, or conducts the operations of com- 
merce. Nay, never has the work of life been 
more swiftly done than often in the languid 
hours of sickness. . . . Whatever your state, 
sickness or health, prosperity or misfortune, view 
it with no atheistic eye, but accept and use it in 
the culture of that personal religion for which you 
were made. 

C. A. Bartol. 

Blindfolded and alone I stand 

With unknown thresholds on each hand ; 

The darkness deepens as I grope, 

Afraid to fear, afraid to hope : 

Yet this one thing I learn to know 

Each day more surely as I go, 

That doors are opened, ways are made, 

Burdens are lifted or are laid, 

By some great law unseen and still, 

Unfathomed purpose to fulfil, 

" Not as I will." 

H. H. 

(4i) 



February 11. 



Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be 
joyous, but grievous : nevertheless, afterward it 
yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them 
that are exercised thereby, — Heb. xii. 1 1. 



/^OXTEXTEDXESS in all accidents brings 
great peace of spirit, and is the great and 
only instrument of temporal felicity. It removes 
the sting from the accident, and makes a man 
not to depend upon chance, and the uncertain 
dispositions of men for his well-being, but only 
on God and his own spirit. 

Jeremy Taylor. 

But all God's angels come to us disguised; 
Sorrow and sickness, poverty and death, 
One after other lift their frowning masks, 
And we behold the seraph's face beneath, 
All radiant with the glory and the calm 
Of having looked upon the front of God. 

J. R. Lowell. 



For temptation going before is wont to be a 
sign of comfort to follow. 

Thomas a Kempis. 

(42) 



February 12 



To-day if ye will hear his voice harden not your 
hearts. — Heb. iv. 7,8. 

HPO-DAY is a king in disguise. To-day always 
looks mean to the thoughtless in the face of 
a uniform experience that all good and great and 
happy actions are made up precisely of these 
blank to-days. Let us not be so deceived. Let 
us unmask the king as he passes. 

Emerson. 

. Every day new relationships are forming around 
us ; new circumstances are calling upon us to 
act — to act manfully, firmly, decisively, and up 
to the occasion, remembering that an opportu- 
nity once gone is gone forever. Indulge not in 
vain regrets for the past, in vainer resolves for 
the future — act, act in the present. 

F. W. Robertson. 

Lo, here hath been dawning 

Another blue day. 
Think, wilt thou let it 

Slip useless away ! 

Out of Eternity 

This new day is born ; 
Into Eternity, 

At night, will return. 

Carlyle. 



(43) 



February 13. 



Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the 
truth. — i. Cor. xiii. 6. 



TT is a noble and great thing to cover the blem- 
ishes and excuse the failings of a friend ; to 
draw a curtain before his stains, and to display 
his perfections ; to bury his weaknesses in silence, 
but to proclaim his virtues upon the housetop. 

South. 

Some men are so excessively acute at detect- 
ing imperfections that they scarcely notice excel- 
lencies. In looking at a peacock's train they 
would fix on every spot where the feathers were 
worn, or the colors faded, and see nothing else. 

Archbishop Whately. 



Then speak no ill, but lenient be 

To others' failings as your own. 
If you're the first a fault to see, 

Be not the first to make it known ; 
For life is but a passing day ; 

No lips can tell how brief the stay. 
Be earnest in the search of good, 

And speak of all the best we may. 

(44) 



February 14, 



Be ye kind one to another. — Eph. iv. 32. 
Masters, give u?ito your servants that which is 



HE great duty of life is not to give pain ; and 



the most acute reasoner cannot find an ex- 
cuse for one who voluntarily wounds the heart of 
a fellow-creature. Even for their own sakes peo- 
ple should show kindness and regard to their 
dependants. They are often better served in tri- 
fles, in proportion as they are rather feared than 
loved ; but how small is the gain compared with 
the loss sustained in all the weightier affairs of 
life ! Then the faithful servant shows himself at 
once as a friend, while one who serves from fear 
shows himself as an enemy. 



Wherever in the world I am, 

In whatsoe'er estate, 
I have a fellowship with hearts, 

To keep and cultivate ;' 
And a work of holy love to do 

For the Lord on whom I wait. 



just and equal. — Col. iv. 1. 




Frederika Bremer. 



A. L. Waring. 



(45) 



February 15. 

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. — Matt 
xix. 19. 

T3ENEVOLENCE is a duty. He who fre- 
quently practises it. and sees his benevolent 
intentions realized, at length comes really to love 
him to whom he has done good. When therefore 
it is said. " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thv- 
self," it is not meant thou shalt love him first, and 
do good to him in consequence of that love, but 
thou shalt do good to thy neighbor, and this thy 
beneficence will engender in thee that love to 
mankind which is the fulness and consummation 
of the inclination to do good. 

Emmanuel Kant. 



Thy neighbor ? It is he whom thou 

Hast power to aid and bless, 
Whose aching heart or burning brow 

Thy soothing hand may press. 

Thy neighbor ? 'Tis the fainting poor, 

Whose eye with want is dim ; 
Whom hunger sends from door to door : 

Go, then, and succor him. 

Peabody. 

(46) 



February 16, 



Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst 
after righteousness : for they shall be filled. — Matt. 
v. 6. 

HPHEY who " hunger and thirst after righteous- 
A ness " — whose consciences will not let them 
rest, who seek after a better standard of ri^ht and 
wrong, truth and falsehood, purity and impurity, 
justice and injustice, than they find in the world 
around them; to whom justice is a positive joy, 
and injustice a deep and rankling grief ; who long 
with the longing of the Psalmist, in a dry and 
thirsty land, to be better themselves, and to make 
others better also ; who prize God's law more 
than gold, yea, than much fine gold ; whose heart 
and whose flesh cry out after the holiness of the 
living God, — these " shall be satisfied." Alas, it 
may not be here ; but in that new and better 
world wherein dwelleth righteousness. 

E. M. GOULBURN. 

I thirst for springs of heavenly life, 

And here all day thev rise ; 
I seek the treasure of thy love, 

And close at hand it lies. 

A. L. Waring, 

(47) 



February 17. 



For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gam 
the whole world, and lose his own soul ? — Mark, 
viii. 36. 

73 EST assured that our happiness, our dignity, 
our welfare, here and hereafter, depend not 
on what our ancestors were thousands of years 
ago, not on the construction of our outward 
frames — nor even on those high mental gifts of 
intellect, mind, and genius — no, not on any of 
these things, wonderful as they are, and greatly as 
they contribute to our happiness, does the real 
destiny of men or of nations rest ; but on our 
moral mature itself — on what we are, on what we 
do, on what we admire, on what we detest, on 
what we love, on what we hate. 

Dean Stanley. 

Wealth and rule slip down with fortune, as her wheel turns 
round ; 

He who keeps his faith, he only cannot be discrowned. 

Little were a change of station, loss of life or crown, 
But the wreck were past retrieving if the Man fell down. 

J. R. Lowell. 



.(48) 



February 18. 

A friend loveth at all times. — Prov. xvii. 17. 



TT is in the time of trouble, when some to whom 
we may have looked for consolation and en- 
couragement regard us with coldness, and others, 
perhaps, treat us with hostility, that the warmth 
of the friendly heart, and the support of the 
friendly hand, acquire increased value, and de- 
mand additional gratitude. 

Bishop Mant. 

The most I can do for my friend is simply to be 
his friend. I have no wealth to bestow upon 
him. If he knows that I am happy in loving him, 
he will want no other reward. Is not friendship 
divine in this ? 

H. D. Thoreau. 

O friend, my bosom said, 

Through thee alone the sky is arched, 
Through thee the rose is red. . . . 
• . . • 

Me too thy nobleness has taught 

To master my despair ; 
The fountains of my hidden life 

Are through thy friendship fair. 

Emerson. 



(49) 



February 19. 

Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts dili- 
gently, — Ps. cxix. 4, 

'•TF I could believe in happiness/' says M. de 
Chateaubriand, " I should place it in habit, 
the uniform habit which binds day to day, and 
renders almost insensible the transition from one 
hour to another, from one thing to another, so 
that everything falls gently upon the soul as if it 
had been long expected." There is a repose in 
this measured life, in this linking together of 
duties, studies, prayers, hymns, relaxations, that 
come one after the other to the religious like the 
successive rings in an endless chain. 

Eugenie de Guerin. 



Slowly fashioned link bv link, 

Slowing waxing strong, 
Till the spirit never shrink, 

Save from touch of wrong. 

Holv habits are thy wealth, 

Golden, pleasant chains ; 
Passing earth's prime blessing — health, 

Endless, priceless gains. 

Thomas Davis. 

(50) 



February 20. 



For thou hast made him a little lower than the 
angels, and hast crowned him with glory a?id 
honor. — Ps. viii. 5. 

DELIEVE, soul, thou art placed in this mys- 
terious and glorious universe, that God 
formed thee from his spirit for no mean purpose, 
but for a destiny nobler than thy highest aspira- 
tions have pointed to. Believe in the best 
thoughts and whisperings that visit thy heart. 
If thou dost catch at times some gleams of the 
divineness of charity, of the glory of sacrifice, of 
the grandeur of faith, of the sky-pier cing power of 
prayer, like mountain peaks jutting through fogs, 
or slopes afar off in the horizon light, believe in 
them with more enthusiasm than in the stupid 
dust of the beaten roads. . . . Believe in them, 
for they are the mountain principles and altar- 
piles of life. Starr King. 

Know, my soul, thy full salvation ; 
Rise o'er sin, and fear, and care ; 
Joy to find, in every station, 
Something still to do or bear : 
Think what Spirit dwells within thee ; 
What a Father's smile is thine ; 
Think what Jesus did to win thee ; 
Child of heaven, canst thou repine ? 

H. F. Lyte. 

(SO 



February 21. 



77777/ /7z£ merciful thou wilt show thyself 7ner- 
ciful ; with an upright man thou wilt show thyself 
upright ; with the pure thou wilt show thyself pure ; 
and with the froward thou wilt show thyself fro- 
ward, — Ps. xviii. 25. 26, 

T IKE alone acts upon like. Therefore do not 
— 4 amend by reasoning, but by example : ap- 
proach feeling by feeling : do not hope to excite 
love except by love. Be what you wish others to 
become. Let yourself, and not your words, 
preach for you. Amiel. 

If thv heart yearns for love, be loving : if thou 
wouldst free mankind, be free : if thou wouldst 
have a brother frank to thee, be frank to him. 
. . . Be found with thine own conscience in that 
circle of duties which widens ever, till it enthrones 
all beings and touches the throne of God. 

Lydia Maria Child. 

Be noble ! and the nobleness that lies 

In other men. sleeping, but never dead, 

Will rise in majesty to meet thine own ; 

Then wilt thou see it gleam in many eves, 

Then will pure light around thy path be shed, 

And thou wilt nevermore be sad and lone. 

J. R. Lowell. 



February 22. 

Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. — Mark 
ix. 24. 



T^HERE are some men who have never be- 
lieved enough to doubt. There are some 
who have never thrown their hopes with such 
earnestness on the w r orld to come, as to feel 
anxiety for fear it should not all be true. But 
everv one who knows what Faith is, knows too 
what is the desolation of Doubt. 

F. W. Robertson. 



Who never doubted, never half believed; 
Where doubt, there truth is. 'Tis her shadow. 

P. J. Bailey. 



I think I could go forward with brave and joyful heart, 
Though every step should pierce me with unknown fiery 
smart, 

If only I might see Thee, if I might gaze above 

On all the cloudless glory of the sunshine of Thy love. 

Frances R. Havergal. 

(53) 



February 23. 

The effectual femefit prayer of a righteous ?na?i 
availeth much. — James v. 16. 

"\ \ 7" HAT should we pray for ? Everything 
which you need. Do you inquire whether 
you may pray for earthly blessings ? I answer, 
Certainly you may, both for yourselves and for 
those whom you love. Remember only two 
things, — one, that to ask mainly for earthly 
blessings is a dreadful dwarfing and vulgarization 
of the grandeur of prayer, as though you asked 
for a handful of grass when you might ask for a 
handful of emeralds ; the other, that you must 
always ask for earthlv desires with absolute sub- 
mission of your own will to God's. 

Canon Farrar. 

Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer 

Than this world dreams of. Wherefore let thy voice 

Rise like a fountain for me night and day. 

For what are men better than sheep or goats 

That nourish a blind life within the brain, 

If, knowing God, they lift not hands of praj-er 

Both for themselves and those who call them friend ? 

For so the whole round earth is every way 

Bound by gold chains about the feet of God. 

Tennyson. 

54) 



February 24. 



For this is the will of God, even your sanctifica- 
tion. — i. Thess. iv. 3. 

'THE work of our sanctification consists simply 



in receiving, from one moment to another, 
all the troubles and duties of our state in life as 
veils under which God hides Himself and gives 
Himself to us. Every moment brings some duty 
to be faithfully performed, and this is enough for 
our perfection. The moment which brings a duty 
to be performed, or a trouble to be borne, brings 
also a message declaring to us the will of God. 
The soul has only to follow Jesus, the Divine 
Model, by the way of those crosses and sacrifices 
which every day brings. 



And then, please God, a quiet night, 
Where palms are green and robes are white, 
A long drawn breath, a balm for sorrow, — 
And all things lovely on the morrow. 

Christina G. Rossetti. 




Bishop Huntington. 



Man's life is but a working day, 
Whose tasks are set aright : 
A time to work, a time to pray, 



And then a quiet night. 



(55) 



February 25. 



Knowing this, that the trying of your faith 
worketh patience. — James i. 3. 

TTERE is another step. God sends us all such 
a deal of Worry : God so plainly intends each 
of us to have so much Worry : Worry goes so 
much to form in this life the character into which 
we are growing, and which we must take with us 
when we go into the unseen world : that any one 
who really can trust God would feel perfectly sure 
that there must be a way of taking Worry rightly, 
so that it shall do us good and not harm. Worry, 
rightly taken, should train to quietness, humility, 
patience, gentleness, sympathy. It ought not to 
eventuate (though it naturally does) in making 
others suffer because we are uncomfortable : in 
making us a source of painful worry to others be- 
cause we are worried ourselves. . 

A. H. K. Boyd. 

If I could only surely know 

That all these things that tire me so 

Were noticed by my Lord ! 
The pang that cuts me like a knife, 
The lesser pains of daily life, 
The noise, the weariness, the strife, 

What peace it would afford. 

(56) 



February 26. 



Are they not all ?ninisteri?ig spirits, sent forth to 
minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation ? — 
Heb, i. 14. 

T DO not ask anybody to believe this because I 
believe it. I do not ask anybody to feel it be- 
cause I have felt it. But I do say that there are 
few persons who have faithfully tried to learn the 
lesson of sorrow, who have not sooner or later ac- 
knowledged the blessing which those who first 
left the world have wrought for them. They may 
not put into words any hard or crude statement of 
the way such spirits of life work for us. They 
may not know, or even try to know. But you 
will not persuade such a man that, in the moment 
of his doubt, his mother did not whisper to him ; 
or that, in the moment of his loneliness, his sister 
did not come to him ; or that, in the moment of 
his temptation, he was not lifted through by the 
innocence, yes, and the effort, of his child. 

E. E. Hale. 

Sweet hearts around us throb and beat, 
Sweet helping hands are stirred, 
And palpitates the veil between 
With breathings almost heard. 

H. B. Stowe. 

(57) 



February 27. 



Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from 
me : nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done, — 
Luke xxii. 42. 



RUE trust is struck by suffering, as the great 



tree of the forest by the storm, to be tossed, 
torn, and settled deeper in everlasting strength. 
Suffering and trust ever go together : the suffer- 
ing is for a little while, while the trust is trans- 
formed into eternal joy. Can submission ever go 
to a greater extremity than in Jesus ? He sub- 
mitted because he trusted. He submitted be- 
cause in faith he beheld a will higher than his 
own. To that will he sacrificed himself. Every 
one has got to sacrifice to something. Blessed 
he who can submit in trust to the true will of 



To do or not to do, — to have 
Or not to have, — I leave to Thee; 
To be or not to be, I leave, — 
Thy only will be done to me : 
All my requests are lost in one, 
Father, Thy only will be done ! 




God. 



P. C. MOZOOMDAR. 



(58) 



February 28 



Thus saith the Lord of hosts : Consider your 
ways. — Haggai i. 7. 



T^HE day is ended, —its work is done; — it 
befits thee, O my soul, before thou givest 
thyself to repose, to ask if that work has been 
well done. Consider if thy duties have been 
faithfully performed. Hast thou exercised a gen- 
tle, obliging disposition towards those with whom 
thou hast been associated ? Hast thou been care- 
ful to keep in subjection all vain thoughts and 
evil passions ? Has pride had no dominion over 
thee, and have not vanity and ambition caused 
thee to err? Hast thou spoken no ill of thy 
neighbor ? Hast thou espoused the cause of the 
injured, and has truth dwelt on thy lips ? Has 
love to thy Heavenly Parent influenced thee in 
all thy doings, and made itself visible in all thy 
actions ? 

Dorothea Dix. 

In our work and in our homes 
Christian men we fain would be; 
Learn how daily life affords 
Noblest opportunity. 

(59) 



February 29. 



All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth un- 
to such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. — 

Ps. XXV. 10. 

r I ".RUE peace of mind does not depend, as some 
seem to suppose, on the external incidents of 
riches and poverty, of health and sickness, of 
friendships and enmities. It has no necessary 
dependence upon society or seclusion ; upon 
dwelling in cities or in the desert. . . . Let the 
heart be right, let it be fully united with the will 
of God, and we shall be entirely contented with 

9 J 

those circumstances in which Providence has seen 
fit to place us, however un propitious they may be 
in a worldly point of view. He who gains the 
victory over himself gains the victory over all his 
enemies. 

T. C. Upham. 

In Heavenly Love abiding, 

Xo change my heart shall fear ; 
And safe is such confiding, 

For nothing changes here. 
The storm may roar about me, 

My heart may low be laid; 
But God is round about me. 

And can I be dismayed ? 

A. L. Waring. 

(6o) 



March 1 



Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the 
kingdom of heaven. — Matt. v. 3. 

\/E who have missed out of your actual living 
the answer to your souls' passionate asking, 
— ye whom something afar off, that ought to be 
your very own, passes by like a mirage, w r ho see 
away off on the distant horizon, like dwellers in 
a wintry arctic, a sun circling over happier zones 
that never comes nigh your zenith, — see here ! 
where the unsetting Sun of the Kingdom sends 
down its full and glorious rays into the secret 
cold and ache within you. . . . Outside may be 
cold and darkness. Your hands may stretch into 
an unresponsive void. Yet in your spirits are ye 
blest. There find ye, wide open, the doors into 
the Kingdom. As out of a dream paths impos- 
sible to sense and every day show plain and sud- 
den transit into distant places, so from your shut 
souls widens out an entrance-way into God's ever- 
lasting joy. 

A. D. T. Whitney. 

God doth not work as man works, but makes all 
The crooked paths of ill to goodness tend. 

• J. R. Lowell, 

(61) 



March 2. 



But he that doeth truth cometh to the light. — 
John iii. 21. 

T \ 7*E believe that obedience to duty is the way 
of life, and no one can do wrong without 
suffering. We believe in truthfulness, honesty of 
conduct, integrity of character, wise and gener- 
ous giving, purity of thought and life. We be- 
lieve that no real harm can befall the righteous in 
life or death. 

C. F. Dole, 

When the anchors that faith had cast 

Are dragging in the gale, 
I am quietly holding fast 

To the things that cannot fail. 
I know that right is right; 

That it is not good to lie ; 
That love is better than spite, 

And a neighbor than a spy ; 

• • • • ■ 

That the rulers must obey ; 

That the givers shall increase ; 
That Duty lights the way 

For the beautiful feet of Peace. 

• • ■ • • 

And that somewhere beyond the stars 

Is a love that is better than fate. 
When the night unlocks her bars 

I shall see Him, and I will wait. 

Washington Gladden. 

(62) 



March 3. 



Be stro?ig and be of good courage. Be ?iot 
afraid, — Josh. i. 9. 



HPHE tendency to persevere, to persist in spite 
of hindrances, discouragements, and impos- 
sibilities : it is this that in all things distinguishes 
the strong soul from the weak. 

Carlyle. 



Ever since I got this thought — and it came to 
me like an inspiration — I can see more and more 
its value ; that a person is never so hedged up 
but there is some one thing he can do ; some one 
way he can turn ; some one person he can influ- 
ence. He is never without any resource. 

William Wye Smith. 



Sink not beneath imaginary sorrows ; 
Call to your aid your courage and your wisdom : 
Think on the sudden change of human scenes ; 
Think on the various accidents of war ; 
Think on the mighty power of awful virtue ; 
Think on that Providence that guards the good. 

Johnson. 

(63) 



March 4. 



Jesus said u?ito him. Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 
and with all thy mind. . . . Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments 
hang all the law and the prophets. — Matt. xxii. 



STRANGE blindness ! O incomprehensi- 



ble stupidity ! We bear the name of Chris- 
dans ; we call Christ our Lord and Master : and 
yet we pile mountains of creed over His simple 
declaration of the faith. Love to God : do we 
feel it in our hearts ? Love to man : do we ex- 
emplify it. and see it exemplified in our homes, 
our neighborhoods, our churches, our stores, in 
the busy factor}*, in those quarters of the city 
where God's children are living in poverty and 
vice ? If not, what is our religion but a creed, 
and an empty sound. Let us search our hearts 
and see if we find there love for the Divine, and 
divine love for all humanity. If not. then we 
may be sure we are far from the kingdom of 
God. for that Kingdom is Love. 

O Love Divine ! — whose constant beam 
Shines on the eyes that will not see, 

And waits to bless us while we dream, 

Thou leavest us because we turn from Thee. 

J. G. YVhittier. 



37- 39- 40- 




(64) 



March 5. 

If a man die, shall he live again ? 



—Job xiv. 14. 



HERE is, I know not how, in the minds of 



x men, a certain presage, as it were, of a fut- 
ure existence ; and this takes the deepest root 
and is most discoverable in the greatest geniuses 
and most exalted souls. 



There is nothing strictly immortal but immor- 
tality. Whatever hath no beginning may be 
confident of no end. 



It must be so, — Plato, thou reasonest well ! — 

Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, 

This longing after immortality ? 

Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror, 

Of falling into naught ? Why shrinks the soul 

Back on herself, and startles at destruction ? 

'Tis the divinity that stirs within us ; 

'Tis heaven itself that points out a hereafter, 

And intimates eternity to man. 

Eternity ! thou pleasing, dreadful thought ! 




Cicero. 



Sir Thomas Browne. 



Addison. 



(65) 



March 6. 



He that hath an car let him hear what the 
Spirit saith unto the churches. — Rev, ii, 29. 



T WAS troubled most that the miseries of hu- 
inanity, the habit of judging one another, of 
passing judgment upon nations and religions,, and 
the wars and massacres which resulted in conse- 
quence, all went on with the approbation cf the 
church. The doctrine of Jesus. — judge not. be 
humble, forgive offences, denv self. love. ■ — this 
doctrine was extolled by the church in words, but 
at the same time the church approved what was 
incompatible with the doctrine. Was it possible 
that the doctrine of Jesus admitted of such con- 
tradictions ? I could not believe so. 

Count L. Tolstoi. 



Oh. if men bestowed as much labor in the root- 
ing-out of vices and the planting of virtues as 
they do in the moving of questions, neither would 
so many evils be done nor so great scandal be 
given in the world. 

Thomas a Kempis. 

(66) 



March 7. 



And we desire that every one of yon do show the 
same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the 
end. — Heb. vi. n. 

O EMEMBER, then, that the most solemn 



interests and fearful issues of life depend 
on things in themselves slight. The greatest 
man that ever lived was dependent for character 
and happiness far more upon his little acts than 
upon his great achievements. . . . Do you then 
aim at great results ? Be careful of your small 
actions. . . . Would you secure a fair reputation ? 
The wise and good, whose esteem alone is pre- 
cious, will not judge of you by the few deeds of 
philanthropy and honesty which you put boldly 
forth for the inspection of the world, but by your 
constant habits in business, your daily walk, your 
most private treatment of the humblest man in 
your service, in short, by your contribution of 
mites to individual happiness and the public 
good. 



The heights by great men reached and kept 
Were not attained by sudden flight; 

But they, while their companions slept, 
Were toiling upward in the night, 

Longfellow. 




C. A. Bartol. 



(67) 



March 8. 



These things I have spoken anto you, that in me 
ye might have peace. — - John xvi. 33. 



HAT ! shall the unquiet of revenge, of in- 



jured pride, of vanity, which finds its root 
of restlessness in every glance, of envy that cor- 
rodes the heart, of jealousy that consumes the 
very body like a fire, of hatred that sleeplessly 
seeks its end, — shall these that hold rule so 
often in our hearts depart, driven away like foul 
birds from the spirit they keep peaceless ? Yes, 
He has left His peace to us. It will step by step 
rule in our hearts. Born of love, it will be made 
greater day by day by love. . . . Our pride will 
pass into the glory of forgiving, envy and even 
jealousy be lost in the blessedness of sacrifice. 
. . . We shall then have the peace of triumphant 




love. 



Stopford A. Brooke. 




March 9. 



I press toward the mark for the prize of the high 



calling of God in Christ Jesus. — Phil. iii. 14. 



O the formation of a good character, it is of 



the highest importance that you have a com- 
manding object in view, and that your aim in life be 
elevated. ... It is an old proverb that he who 
aims at the sun, to be sure, will not reach it, but 
his arrow will fly higher than if he aimed at an 
object on a level with himself. Just so in the 
formation of character. Set your standard high ; 
and, though you may not reach it, you can hardly 
fail to rise higher than if you aimed at some 
inferior excellence. 



Pitch thy behavior low, thy projects high ; 

So shalt thou humble and magnanimous be : 
Sink not in spirit; who aimeth at the sky 

Shoots higher much than he that means a tree. 
A grain of glory mixed with humbleness 
Cures both a fever and lethargickness. 

George Herbert. 




Joel Hawes. 



(69) 



March 10. 



The meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek 
will he teach his way. — Ps. xxv. 9. 

'^PHERE is always some one thing a person can 
A do. The way we have chosen for ourselves 
may be hedged up, and we may not be able to do 
as we would, but some other opening will appear. 
And I do not know a better or more Christian 
way than first to seek God's aid by prayer, and 
then sit down and ask : Now is there no way I 
can turn in this juncture ? Is there no person to 
whom I can apply ? Is there no other way than 
the way I have thought of for accomplishing this, 
or for accomplishing something else that will do 
just as well ? Does poverty stare you in the 
face ? There is some one honest thing you can 
do to make a living. Throw away pride and prej- 
udice, and do it. 

William Wye Smith. 

Thy way, not mine, O Lord, 

However dark it be : 
Lead me by thine own hand, 

Choose out the path for me, 
Smooth let it be or rough, 

It will be still the best; 
Winding or straight, it leads 

Right onward to thy rest. 

Bonar. 



(70) 



March 11. 



A soft answer turneth away wrath, — Prov. 

XV. I. 



HAT inexhaustible good-nature, which is the 



most precious gift of Heaven, spreading it- 
self like oil over the troubled sea of thought, and 
keeping the mind smooth and equable in the 
roughest weather. 



Good-nature is the beauty of the mind, and, 
like personal beauty, wins almost without any- 
thing else, — sometimes, indeed, in spite of positive 
deficiencies. 



What may this wondrous spirit be, 

With power unheard before — ■ 
This charm, this bright divinity? 

Good temper ! nothing more ! 
Good temper ! — 'tis the choicest gift 

That woman homeward brings, 
And can the poorest peasant lift 

To bliss unknown to kings. 




Washington Irving. 



Jonas Hanway. 



Charles Swain. 



(71) 



March 12. 



God be merciful to me a sinner. — Luke xv'rii. 13. 



O too in our prayer we are about to confess 



^ our sins. But, first, let us be sure that we 
feel our sins. Do we think how, all through this 
day, our feelings have been morose, our temper 
fretful, our words harsh and unkind, so that on 
the whole we have been making all around us un- 
happy rather than increasing their joy ? Do we 
remember that we missed opportunities to-day, 
through our selfishness or indolence, of doing: acts 
which would have made others happier or better, 
: — opportunities which we shall never have again ? 
. . . Do we remember all the careless words we 
have spoken, some of which were barbed arrows 
of unkind surmise, of harsh and cruel judgment? 
. . . I think if we ask ourselves such questions as 
these, that we shall be able to say with sincerity 
in our prayer, " God be merciful to me a sinner." 




J. F. Clarke. 



In the hour of my distress, 
When temptations me oppress, 
And when I my sins confess, 



Sweet Spirit, comfort me. 



Herrick. 



(72) 



March 13. 



And above all things have fervent charity aniong 
yourselves : for charity shall cover the multitude of 
sins. — i. Peter iv. 8. 



HRIST does not say that all persons are to 



be loved by us alike, — with equal degrees 
of personal interest and attachment ; for He 
never asks what cannot be. But that kind of love 
which springs from our being all one in Him 
whose boundless love embraces all . . . this is 
possible for us toward every child of God ; the 
unsightliest, the most disagreeable, the least 
lovely, the worst. We cannot reverse the in- 
wrought laws of taste, attraction, preference, 
common culture and common life, which group 
and distribute men. But we can merge them all 
in that one common charity which, in the Re- 
deemer himself, was lar^e enough to reach and 
gather up the vilest. ... In other words, all can 
be loved in Him, and will be by those that have 
their life in Him. And we must not be too fastid- 
ious about people forsaking their ugliness and 
correcting: their faults, before our charitv g;oes out 
to them. Bishop Huntington. 

Faith, Hope, and Charity, — these three ; 
Yet is the greatest Charity ! 
Father of lights, these gifts impart 
To mine and every human heart. 




Montgomery. 



(73) 



March 14. 



Every man according as he purposeth in his 
heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity ; 
for Godloveth a cheerful giver* — n. Cor. ix. 7, 



TTE that gives alms must do it in mercy, that 
is. out of a true sense of the calamity of 
his brother, first feeling it in himself in some pro- 
portion, and then endeavoring to ease himself 
and the other of their common calamity. 

Jeremy Taylor. 



That is no true alms which the hand can hold ; 

He gives nothing but worthless gold 

Who gives from a sense of duty ; 
But he who gives but a slender mite, 
And gives to that which is out of sight, 

That thread of the all-sustaining Beauty 
Which runs through all and doth all unite, — 
The hand cannot clasp the whole of his aims, 
The heart outstretches its eager palms, 
For a god goes with it and makes it store 
To the soul that was starving in darkness before. 

J. R. Lowell. 

(74) 



March 15. 



It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, 
nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is 
offended, or is made weak. — Rom. xiv. 21. 

T7VERY life is a profession of faith, and exer- 
cises an inevitable and silent propaganda. 
As far as lies in its power it tends to transform 
the universe and humanitv into its own ima^e. 
Thus we have all a cure of souls. Every man is 
a centre of perpetual radiation, like a luminous 
body; he is. as it were, a beacon which entices 
a ship upon the rocks if it does not guide it into 
port. Every man is a priest, even involuntarily; 
his conduct is an unspoken sermon, which is for- 
ever preaching to others ; — but there are priests 
of Baal, of Moloch, and of all the false gods. 
Such is the high importance of example. Thence 
comes the terrible responsibility which weighs 
upon us all. 

Amiel. 

Faith shares the future's promise ; love's 

Self-offering is a triumph won; 
And each good thought or action moves 

The dark world nearer to the sun. 

J. G. Whittier. 

(75) 



March 16. 



So teach us to number our days that we may 
apply our hearts unto wisdom. — Ps. xc. 12. 



A S the Emperor Titus said, " I have lost a 
day," when he could think of no good action 
he had done during the sun's circuit, we must 
judge ourselves in the blaze of the fact that every 
day is lost, according to the heavenly notation, 
that has not been ennobled and spiritualized by 
the exercise of some moral and celestial quality, 
either in restraining passion, or doing something, or 
giving something, or cherishing some devout sen- 
timent, — so that a truth, a principle, has become 
a more ready guest through us, in this world of 
conflict and sin. 

Starr King. 



Thou our daily tasks shalt give ; 
Day by day to Thee we live ; 
So shall added years fulfil 
Not our own, our Father's will. 



JOSIAH CONDER. 

(76) 



March 17. 



Rejoice in the Lord always ; and again I say, 
Rejoice. — Phil. iv. 4. 



T CANNOT but think that the world would be 
better and brighter if our teachers would dwell 
on the Duty of Happiness as well as on the 
Happiness of Duty ; for we ought to be as cheer- 
ful as we can, if only because to be happy our- 
selves is a most effectual contribution to the 
happiness of others. 

Sir John Lubbock. 



If I have faltered more or less 
In my great task of happiness ; 
If I have moved among my race 
And shown no glorious morning face ; 
If beams from happy human eyes 
Have moved me not; if morning skies, 
Books, and my food, and summer rain 
Knocked on my sullen heart in vain : — 
Lord, thy most pointed pleasure take 
And stab my spirit broad awake ; 
Or, Lord, if too obdurate I, 
Choose thou before that spirit die 
A piercing pain, a killing sin, 
And to my dead heart run them in. 

R. L. Stevenson. 

(77) 



March 18 



Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing ? and 
one of them shall not fall on the ground without 
your Father. — Matt, x. 29. 



'VT'OU have no right for the sake of pleasure 
to trench upon the life and happiness of 
your horse, your dog, your cat. You have no 
right to trench upon the happiness of the birds in 
the trees, or the wild beasts in the forest ; and I 
think somewhat less of that man than I other- 
wise should, who is capable of enjoying what is 
called " sportsmanship " at the expense of the 
life and pleasure of others, and with no higher 
object in it than simply his personal enjoyment. 
I believe Cowper gave utterance to a grand 
truth, which will some time be recognized as a 
universal principle of morality, when he said : — 

" I would not enter on my list of friends 
(Though graced with polished manners and fine sense, 
Yet wanting sensibility) the man 
Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm." 

M. J. Savage. 



(78) 



March 19. 



But if ye have respect to persons ye commit sin. — 
James ii. 9. 

/^"AFTEN and often we think we are all right ; 

that no one can find fault with us ; that 
those whom we neglect, or despise, or set aside, 
are not worth considering for a moment. And 
yet all the while, as God sees us, as others see us, 
we are injuring the very cause we wish to pro- 
mote ; those of whom we think so little may be 
the very likenesses and representatives to us of 
God and Christ himself. In injuring them, in 
despising them, we may be doing the most wide- 
spread mischief, we may be defying God, we may 
be even destroying our own souls. In helping 
them, in considering them, we are serving Christ 
himself. 

Dean Stanley. 

Then Christ sought out an artisan, 
A low-browed, stunted, haggard man, 
And a motherless girl, whose ringers thin 
Pushed from her faintly want and sin. 

These set he in the midst of them, 
And as they drew back their garment's hem 
For fear of defilement, " Lo, here," said he, 
" The images ye have made of me." 

J. R. Lowell. 

(79) 



March 20. 

What man is he that liveth a?id shall not see 
death ? — Ps. lxxxix. 48. 

T HAVE often thought upon death, and I find it 
the least of all evils. All that which is passed 
is as a dream ; and he that hopes or depends 
upon time coming dreams waking. So much of 
our life as we have discovered is already dead ; 
and all those hours which we share, even from the 
breasts of our mother, until we return to our 
grandmother, the earth, are part of our dying 
days; whereof this is ore, and those that succeed 
are of the same nature, for we die daily ; and as 
others have given place to us, so we must in the 
end give w x ay to others. 

Bacon. 



To die ? it is to rise 

To fairer, brighter skies, 
Where death no more shall his dread harvests reap ; 

To soar on angel wings 

Where life immortal springs, 
For so He giveth His beloved sleep. 

I. N. Tarbox. 

(80) 



March 21. 



For he k?ioweth not that which shall be : for who 
can tell him when it shall be ? — Eccl. viii. 7. 



"\70U have learned to take short views. You 
do not plan far ahead. Experience has 
taught you that it is needless : that it is vain : 
many needless fears and anxieties you have 
already known : % the way grew smooth and the 
cloud lifted when you came to the place : so it 
will be again. You will not suffer yourself to-day 
to be bearing the burden of many days to come. 
One at a time. He was a wise man, and some- 
thing more, that American President who one 
morning said to an evil-foreboding friend, " My 
rule through life has been never to cross the 
Great Big-Muddy Creek till I came to it." 

. A. H. K. Boyd. 



What can these anxious cares avail, 
These never ceasing moans and sighs ; 

What can it help us to bewail 
Each painful moment as it flies ? 

Our cross and trials do but press 

The heavier for our bitterness. 

Neumarck. 

(81) 



March 22 



She lookeih well to the ways of her household, and 
eateth not the bread of idleness. — Prov. xxxi. 27. 

TV /I" OTHERS, friends, who wish to be always 
loved, find always a new and interesting 
occupation for those to whom you devote your- 
selves. And you who wish to remain always 
joyous, pure, and loving, impose upon yourself 
each dav some task. — something definite, that you 
may not have the trouble of seeking it ; some- 
thing simple, that you can leave and resume with- 
out trouble ; something interesting, which will 
attract you when your serious occupations are 
over, retain you by its charm, and fill the voids in 
your day; "for instance, a collection to complete, 
a book to look over, something to acquire, a work 
of art to perfect." . . . God has given to occupa- 
tion the mission of the north wind, — that of 
purifying the miasma of the heart, as the wind 
purifies the miasma of the atmosphere. 

" Golden Sands/' 

Eschew the idle life ! 
Flee, flee from doing naught ! 
There never was an idle brain 
But bred an idle thought. 

George Turberville. 

(82) 



March 23. 

He that believeth shall ?iot make haste. — Isa. 
xxviii. 1 6. 

TTURRIED results are worse than none. We 
must force nothing, but be partakers of the 
divine patience. ... If there is one thing evi- 
dent in the world's history, it is that God hasteth 
not. All haste implies weakness. Time is as 
cheap as space and matter. 

George MacDonald. 



What is done hastily is not likely to be done 
well. There is need, therefore, of holy de- 
liberation; especially when we consider that 
the results of an eternity may depend on the 
movements of a single moment. 

T. C. Upham. 



Haste not, rest not, calmly wait, 
Meekly bear the storms of fate ; 
Duty be thy polar guide. 
Love shall linger at thy side. 
Haste not, rest not ; conflicts past, 
God shall crown thy work at last. 

(83) 



March 24. 



It is good for me that I have been afflicted ; that 
I might learn thy statutes. — Ps. cxix. 71. 

VI THO is there that does not acknowledge 
that a blessing is enhanced by the fear of 
losing it, and that its value is never fully known 
till it is taken away ? When wearisome days and 
nights are appointed us, w r e learn to prize the 
blessing of health. When pinched with hunger 
and cold, we duly estimate the blessings of food 
and raiment. It is, alas, when we are robbed of 
our friends that we fully realize how much we are 
indebted to God for them ; and how much we 
owe for what still remains to us. Afflictions, then, 
are intended as the instrument of good to us. 
Afflictions, which by the grace of God we have 
rightly improved, are real blessings. They come 
indeed with a frowning countenance, but they 
bear a message of peace. 

Charles Lowell. 

No note of sorrow but shall melt 
In sweetest chord unguessed; 

No labor all too pressing felt, 
But ends in quiet rest. 

Frances R. Havergal. 

(84) 



March 25. 



For there is a man whose labor is in wisdom, and 
in knowledge, and in equity. — Eccl. ii. 21. 



T \ THO are the men who have succeeded in the 
* best way ? Who are the men who have 
done good work while they lived, and have left 
their lives like monuments for the inspiration of 
mankind ? They are the men who have at once 
known themselves in reference to their circum- 
stances, and known their circumstances in refer- 
ence to themselves ; true men, sure of their own 
individuality, sure of their own distinctness and 
difference from everv other human life, sure that 
there was never another man just like them since 
the world began, that therefore they had their own 
duties, their own rights, their own work to do and 
way to do it. 

Phillips Brooks. 



He liveth long who liveth well ; 

All else is being flung away : 
He liveth longest who can tell 

Of true things truly done each day. 

Bonar. 

(85) 



March 26. 



And the Lord make you to i?icrease and abound in 
love one toivard another ; and toward all men, — 
I. Thess. iii. 12. 

T AM quite clear that one of our worst failures 
is at the point where, having resolved like an- 
gels, we drop back into the old matter-of-fact life 
and do just what we did before, because we have 
alwa) r s done it, and because everybody does it, 
and because our fathers and mothers did it ; ail 
which may be the very reason why we should not 
do it. . . . There is no station of life, and no 
place of one's home, where, if he want to enlarge 
his life in caring for people outside himself, he 
may not start on a career of enlargement which 
shall extend indefinitely. And we shall find the 
answer to our question to be that the man who 
enters upon infinite purposes lives the infinite 
life. He enlarges his life by every experience of 
life. 

E. E, Hale. 

Be thou, my heart, dilated wide 

With this kind, social grace. 
And in one grasp of fervent love 

All earth and heaven embrace. 

Doddridge. 

(86) 



March 27. 

Now, if any ma7i have not the Spirit of Christ 
he is none of his. — Rom. viii. 9. 



HPHERE can be no such thing as a quarrel- 
some, revengeful Christian. It is a contra- 
diction in terms. . . . There can be no such 
thing as a proud Christian. Humility lies at the 
foundation of the Christian character. . . . There 
can be no such thing as an unkind, unfeeling 
Christian. There can be no such thing as an ex- 
clusive, censorious Christian. There may be the 
form, indeed, but the spirit is not there. 

Charles Lowell. 



It is an excellent thing when men's religion 
makes them generous, free-hearted, and open- 
handed, scorning to do a thing that is paltry or 
sneaking. 

Matthew Henry. 



What profits us His deeds and life, 
His meekness, love so quick to bless, 

If we give place to pride and strife, 
Dishonoring thus His holiness ? 

What profits it if for reward, 

And not in faith, we call Him Lord? 

(87) 



March 28. 



Behold, now is the accepted time ; behold, now is 
the day of salvation. — n. Cor. vi. 2. 

/^\NE of the illusions is that the present hour 
is not the critical decisive hour. Write it on 
your heart that every day is the best day in the 
year. No man has learned anything rightly until 
he knows that every day is Doomsday. . . . He 
only can enrich me who can recommend me the 
space between sun and sun. J Tis the measure of 
a man — his apprehension of a day. 

Emerson. 

He, perhaps, shows the greatest wisdom in 
matters of conduct who, declining to pin his vir- 
tuous resolutions to the artificial restrictions of a 
calendar, has the enduring determination to begin 
a new year with every new day. 

H. S. 

Only the present is thy part and fee 

And happy thou 
If, though thou didst not beat thy future brow, 

Thou couldst well see 
What present things required of thee. 

George Herbert. 

(88) 



March 29 



That they should seek the Lord, if haply they 
might feel after him, and find him, though he be not 
far from every one of us. — Acts. xvii. 27. 



TN the life of faith the soul continually pursues 
^ God through all that hides Him, and, if faith- 
ful, never stops in this pursuit. All roads bring 
it nearer to God ; all things are means of lead- 
ins: it to Him. Whether God afflicts or comforts 
the soul it will equally adore Him to be indeed its 
Lord and its God. If we had faith we should be 
at peace with all creatures, thanking them in our 
heart for all the sufferings they cause us, because 
they greatly help to perfect us. The more nature 
rebels, the more firmly will faith say : " All comes 
from God, or is allowed by Him, and therefore 
all is good." 

Bishop Huntington. 



Faith alone can interpret life, and the heart that aches and 
bleeds with the stigma 

Of pain, alone bears the likeness of Christ, and can compre- 
hend its dark enigma. 

Longfellow. 

(89) 



March 30. 



Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the 
earth. — Matt. v. 5. 

"\ "\ 7Ti0 are the meek ? When is meekness 
seen ? When is there scope for manifest- 
ing it ? There is no scope except in circum- 
stances of irritation or provocation. There is no 
room for meekness in a hermitage, where the will 
can never be thwarted, and where there are none 
of the jars and collisions of daily life. There is 
no such thing as meekness without antagonism, 
either from men or circumstances. To feel 
kindly and philanthropically disposed, when all 
men speak well of us, and no cross word is 
thrown in our teeth and no cross incident har- 
asses us, is not meekness at all, but natural 
benevolence, or, if you will, natural amiability. 

Dean Goulburn. 

Renew Thine image, Lord, in me, 
Lowly and gentle may I be ; 

No charms but these to Thee are dear ; 
No anger may'st Thou ever find, 
No pride in my unruffled mind, 

But faith and heaven-born peace be there. 

Paul Gerhardt. 

(90) 



March 31. 



If I did despise the cause of my man-servant or of 
my maid-servant, when they contended with me : 
what then shall I do when God riseth up ? and 
when he visiteth, what shall I answer him 1 — Job. 
xxxi. 13, 14. 

TF we wish our children to be happy at home 
we try to make home attractive. Does the 
same principle obtain with servants ? Do we 
ever think of making a home at all for them ? Is 
a room made pleasant for their reception? . . . 
When we complain that our servants loiter over, 
their work we should do well to consider whether 
we offer them any inducement to finish it earlier. 
Have they anything pleasant to look forward to, 
or must they simply sit down among the pots and 
kettles over which thev have been working all 
day? If they can read do we take any pains to 
provide them with books and papers suited to 
their capacity? If they cannot read do we en- 
courage them to learn, or offer to teach them ? 
If their work is well done do we notice it ? . . . . 
In short, if w r e should feel and show an interest 
in them as belonging to the same brotherhood, I 
think we should be repaid a hundred fold. 

Gail Hamilton. 



April 1. 



For he shall have judgment without mercy, that 
hath showed no mercy. — James ii. 13. 

/^^jUR creature's due is something behind 
mercy- — justice. It has rights. To become 
the owner of an animal is to enter into a contract 
with a fellow-creature, a very " little one," — and 
at once the Golden Rule and the laws of ethics 
begin to apply. And surely the census of these 
" little ones " will soon include the birds. Mill- 
ions of them have been slain each year of late, 
simply to deck our sister's hat ! But the mother- 
heart of England and America is at last begin- 
ning to remember that everv soft breast, every 
shining; wing worn on a hat means that some 
mother or father heart, a tiny heart, but capable 
of loving and toiling for its brood, has been 
pierced through just to set the decoration there. 
And this in the nineteenth century of the Christ- 
love ! Will you not join that Total Abstinence 
Society whose pledge for women is, " No mere 
ornament of mine shall cost a life ; " for men, — 
" No mere sport of mine shall cost a life, no 

death shall make my holiday " ? 

William C. Gannett. 

The Being that is in the clouds and air, 

That is in the green leaves among the groves, 

Maintains a deep and reverential care 

For the unoffending creatures whom He loves. 

Wordsworth. 

(92) 



April 2 



For all people will walk every one in the name of 
his goo 7 , and we will walk in the ?iame of the Lord 
our God forever and ever. — Micah iv. 5. 



IKE the ancients, we too find a deity in each 



till we worship Mammon ; love till we see a 
Venus ; are ambitious till our hands are stained 
with the bloody rites of Mars. While in the 
physical world we are waging by our railroads 
and engines a war of utter extermination against 
time and space, we forget that it is these very 
things, as motives, that urge us on. We are ex- 
hibiting the folly of kingdoms divided against 
themselves ; for, while in the physical world we 
are driving to annihilation time and space, it is 
for the very sake of the things of time and sense 
that we do it. 



Where is thy God, my soul ? 

Is He within thy heart ? 
Or ruler of a distant realm 

In which thou hast no part ? 

Thomas Toke Lynch. 




we follow wealth 



Jones Very. 



(93) 



April 3. 



If we live i?i the Spirit, let us also walk in the 
Spirit, — Gal. v. 25. 

nnOO many have no idea of the subjection of 



their tempers to the influence of religion, and 
yet what is changed if the temper is not? If a 
man is as passionate, malicious, resentful, sullen, 
moody, or morose after his conversion as before 
it, what is he converted from or to ? 



Nothing exposes religion more to the reproaches 

of its enemies than the worldliness and hard- 

heartedness of the professors of it. 

Matthew Henry. 

Lord, many times I am aweary quite 

Of mine own self, my sin, my vanity, — ■ 
Yet be not Thou, or I am lost outright, 
Weary of me. 




j> \hn Angell James. 



And hate against myself I often bear, 

And enter with myself in fierce debate : 
Take Thou my part against myself, nor share 
In that just hate. 

R. C. Trench. 



(94) 



April 4 



Therefore, the prudent shall keep silence in that 
time ; for it is an evil time. — Amos v. 13, 

T ET the time of temptation be the time of si- 



— " lence. Words react upon feelings ; and if 
Satan, in the time of our trials, can induce us to 
utter a hasty or unadvised word, he will add by 
so doing to the power of # his previous assaults, and 
increase the probability of his getting the vic- 
tory. 



The mind wants steadying and setting right 

J CD OO 

many times a day. It resembles a compass 
placed on a rickety table ; the least stir of the 
table makes the needle swing around and point 
untrue. Let it settle, then, till it points aright. 
Be perfectly silent for a few moments, thinking of 
Jesus; there is an almost divine force in silence. 
Drop the thing that worries, that excites, that in- 
terests, that thwarts you ; let it fall like a sedi- 
ment to the bottom, until the soul is no longer 
turbid ; and say, secretly, " Grant, I beseech Thee, 
merciful Lord, to Thy faithful servant pardon and 
peace ; that I may be cleansed from all my sins 
and serve Thee with a quiet mind" 




T. C. Upham. 



Bishop Huntington. 



(95^ 



April 5. 



If it were 7iot so, I would have told you. — John 
xiv. 2. 

ATOWHERE in Christ's words do we discover 



any balancing of probable and improbable, 
any sense of mystery, any question as to the 
meaning of life, any perplexity as to duty, any 
doubt as to the reality of things, of their source 
or character or purpose or end. God is the 
Father ; men are his children ; the pure in heart 
see him ; the meek inherit the earth ; love is the 
one duty, hate the one evil; struggle is not in 
vain ; suffering has its recompense ; evil does not 
triumph and is not eternal ; sorrow and sacrifice 
are real, but joy is above them. The kingdom of 
heaven is the only reality, and Satan may be 
trampled under foot. 



I say to thee do thou repeat 

To the first man thou mayest meet, 

In lane, highway, or open street, — 

That he and we and all men move 

Under a canopy of love, 

As broad as the blue sky above. 




T. T. Munger. 



R. C. Trench. 



(96) 



April 6. 



Let us draw near with a true heart in full assur- 
ance of faith. — Heb. x. 22. 

"\T THERE is God; where is the celestial, im- 



mortal soul ; where is future eternal life, 
but in the vision of trust ? . . . Christ saw things 
through trust : we see things through the intellect. 
Faith beholds being, while intellect beholds mere 
relations. Relations are continually changing. 
Being remains unchanged. Opinions are unsta- 
ble : trust is eternal. Eternal verities, therefore, 
are comprehensible through faith. . . . There is 
occasion, therefore, that, in the midst of all our 
philosophy and material comfort^ we should revive 
in ourselves the last inspiration of the faculty of 
trust. 



Reason, the telescope that scans 

A universe of light ; 
But faith, the angel who may dwell 

Among those regions bright. 
Reason, a lonely towering elm, 

May fall before the blast ; 
Faith, like the ivy on the rock, 

Is safe in clinging fast. 




P. C. MOZOOMDAR. 



Frances R. Havergal. 



(97) 



April 7o 

We are . . . cast down, but not destroyed. — n. 
Cor. iv. 9. 



ET me first consider how I have spent this 



— 4 day. Has my time been well apportioned, 
— and can I render to my heavenly Father a strict 
account of my doings, with a conscience that 
whispers peace ; or must I blush for "countless 
duties cherished not, and many a deed of follv 



The day is drawing to its close ; 

And what good deeds, since first it rose, 

Have I presented, Lord, to thee, 

As offerings of my ministry ? 

What wrong repressed, what right maintained, 

What struggle passed, what victory gained, 

What good attempted and attained? 

Feeble, at best, is my endeavor ! 

I see, but cannot reach the height 

That lies forever in the light, 

And yet forever, and forever, 

When seeming just within my grasp, 

I feel my feeble hands unclasp, 

And sink discouraged into night ! 

For thine own purpose, thou hast sent 

The strife, and the discouragement ! 




done " ? 



Dorothea Dix. 



Longfellow. 



(98; 



April 8. 

Speaking the truth in love. — Eph. iv. 15. 



TT is one among the pious and valuable maxims 
which are ascribed to Francis de Sales, " A 
judicious silence is always better than truth 
spoken without charity." The very undertaking 
to instruct or censure others implies an assump- 
tion of intellectual or moral superiority. It can- 
not be expected, therefore, that the attempt will 
be well received, unless it is tempered with a 
heavenly spirit. " Though I speak with the 
tongue of men and of angels, and have not 
charity, I am become as sounding brass or a 
tinkling cymbal. " 

T. C. Upham. 



Half the sorrows of women would be averted 
if they could repress the speech they know to be 
useless, — nay, the speech they have resolved not 
to utter. ... In this way poor women, whose 
power lies solely in their influence, make them- 
selves like music out of tune, and only move men 
to run away. 

George Eliot. 

(99) 



April 9. 



Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a Utile folding 
of the hands to sleep : so shall thy poverty come as 
one that travelleth ; and thy want as an armed 
man. — Prov. xxiv. 33, 34. 

TD ISE early in the morning, not only to avoid 
self-reproach, but to make the most of the 
little life that remains ; not only to save the 
hours lost in sleep, but to avoid that languor 
which is spread over mind and body for the 
whole of that clay in which you have lain late in 
bed. 

Sydney Smith. 
Franklin savs that he who rises late may trot 

J J 

all day and not have overtaken his business at 
night. Dean Swift avers that he never knew 
any man come to greatness and eminence who 
lay in bed of a morning. 



Come, my soul, thou must be waking, 
Now is breaking 

O'er the earth another day : 
Come to Him who made this splendor, 
See thou render 

All thy feeble strength can pay. 

(loo) 



April 10. 



But I say unto you, That every idle word that 
men shall speak, they shall give accoimt thereof in 
the day of judgment, — Matt. xii. 36. 

TT would be a shrewdly good bargain for the 
world to agree that ill-natured deeds should be 
multiplied by ten, if only the ill-natured words 
were to be diminished by one-half ; for, though 
the deed may be a much larger and more potent 
thing than the word, it often does not give 
nearly as much pain. Dependents would gain 
very much by this bargain, for they seldom 
suffer much from deeds, but a great deal from 
words. Many a man goes through life scattering 
ill-natured remarks in all directions, who has 
never, to his knowledge, done an ill-natured deed, 
and who probably considers himself a very good- 
natured fellow, but one, however, who takes a 
knowing view of all human beings, and of all 
human affairs, and is not to be imposed upon, 
as he takes care to say, by anything or anybody. 

Sir Arthur Helps. 

It is as easy to draw back a stone thrown with 
force from the hand as to recall a word once 
spoken. 

Menander. 

. (101) 



April 11. 



David . . . served his own generation by the will 
of God. — Acts xiii. 36. 

THHERE are many whose sole idea and one 
motive and principle of life is not to serve 
their generation, but their generation must serve 
them. They have no design and no desire for 
anything but self. The object to which every- 
thing else must bend is their own gratification 
and advancement and enrichment. The world is 
none the better, but the worse for their having 
lived in it, and is all the better off when the 
grave covers them. We are none of us free from 
the obligations of serving our own generation ; 
the responsibility rests on us in all its weight, and 
selfish worldliness is a curse to any community, 
to any generation. A nation, a state, a commu- 
nity, a church, a family, an individual, soon tells 
the story whether it is serving its own generation 

according to the will of God or not. 

William B. Smith. 

Who is it will not dare himself to trust ? 

Who is it has not strength to stand alone ? 
Who is it thwarts and bilks the inward Must ? 

He and his works like sand from earth are blown. 

J. R. Lowell. 

(102) 



April 12. 



I?i thy presence is fulness of joy ; at thy right 
hand there are pleasures for evermore. — Ps. xvi. 
1 1. 

^\ \ THEN a great good is to be obtained, the 
evils we must encounter in acquiring it 
lose their importance. The remedy for the 
dread of losing the world, and the objects of the 
world, is to dwell on the recollection of those 
fairer scenes and better objects which faith, while 
on earth, can descry, and which piety will realize 
and enjoy in heaven. Why should we dread to 
part with a lesser for a greater good ? Why 
should we cling so closely, so fondly, to what is 
fading, uncertain, unsatisfying, when we can 
exchange them for what is lasting, sure, and all- 
sufficient ? 

Charles Lowell. 

Green pastures are before me, 

Which yet I have not seen ; 
Bright skies will soon be o'er me, 

Where the dark clouds have been. 

My hope I cannot measure, 

My path to life is free ; 
My Saviour has my treasure, 

And He will walk with me. 

A. L. Waring. 

( io 3) 



April 13. 

Who is my neighbor ? — Luke x. 29. 

THIRST of all he is literally our neighbor who 
is next to us in our own family and house- 
hold. . . . Then it is he who is close to us, in 
our own neighborhood, in our own town, in our 
own parish, in our own street. With these all true 
charity begins. To love and to be kind to these 
is the very beginning of all true religion. But 
besides these, as our Lord teaches, it is every one 
who is thrown across our path by the changes 
and chances of life ; he or she, whosoever it be, 
whom we have any means of helping — the un- 
fortunate stranger whom we may meet in travel- 
ling:, the deserted friend whom no one else cares 
to look after. 

Dean Stanley. 

I would not have this perfect love of ours 

Grow from a single root, a single stem, 
Bearing no goodly fruit, but only flowers 

That idly hide life's iron diadem : 
It should grow alway like that eastern tree 
Whose limbs take root and spread forth constantly ; 
That love for one, from which there doth not spring 
Wide love for all, is but a worthless thing. 

J. R. Lowell. 

(104) 



April 14. 



If any man will do his will, he shall know of 
the docti'ine, whether it be of God, or whether I 
speak of myself . — John vii. 17. 

TT^OUBT of any sort cannot be removed except 
by action ! on which ground, too, let him who 
gropes painfully in darkness or in uncertain light, 
and prays vehemently that the dawn may ripen 
into day, lay this other precept well to heart, 
which to me was of invaluable service : " Do the 
duty which lies nearest thee, which thou knowest 
to be a duty ! Thy second duty will already 
have become clearer." 

Carlyle. 

A man only understands that of which he has 
already the beginnings in himself. 

Amiel. 

I slept, and dreamed that life was beauty. 
I woke, — and found that life was duty. 
Was my dream then a shadowy lie ? 
Toil on, sad heart, courageously ; 
And thou shalt find thy dream shall be 
A noonday light and truth to thee. 

Ellen Sturgis Hooper. 

(105) 



April 15. 



For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh 
7'eap corruption ; but he that soweth to the Spirit 
shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. — 
Gal. vi. 8. 

\\ /"HEXEVER Jesus refers to life after death, 



he speaks of it as answering to the -pres- 
ent, as one future ever answers to its past : it 
is the offspring of the present. The spiritual 
knows but one life ; to the good, he says, there is 
the same continual reward, to the evil the same 
continual trouble, as if he would impress that 
death made no difference, but that the soul cre- 
ated as ever unto evil or good. 



Foil'd by our fellow-men, depress'd, outworn, 
We leave the brutal world to take its way, 
And, Patience ! in another life, we say, 
The zvoi'ld shall be thrust down and we upboi'iie. 
And will not then the immortal armies scorn 
The world's poor, routed leavings ? or will they 
Who fail'd under the heat of this life's day, 
Support the fervors of the heavenly morn ? 
No, no ! the energy of life may be 
Kept on after the grave, but not begun ; 
And he who flagg'd not in the earthly strife, 
From strength to strength advancing, — onlv he, 
His soul well knit, and all his battles v\on, 
Mounts, and that hardly, to eternal life. 




Eliza T. Clapp. 



Matthew Arnold. 



(106) 



> 



April 16. 

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, 
the evidence of things not seen. — Heb. xi. i. 



TF we have not a God worthy of trusting in the 
dark, we have not one worth keeping. If we 
have, then let us honor Him, as did Paul and 
Silas, who sent up songs winged with light, and 
warbling toward heaven out of stocks, and a 
dungeon in the dark. 

M. J. Savage, 



The robin and the bluebird sing 
O'er meadows brown and bare, 

They cannot know what wondrous bloom 
Is softly budding there ; 

But all the joy their hearts outpour 
Seems pulsing in the air. 

Oh, while beneath the snowdrift buds 

The flower we love the best, 
And on the wind-tossed bough the bird 

Still builds its happy nest, 
Praise God for all the good we know, 

And trust Him for the rest. 

(107) 



April 17. 

And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick. — 
Isa. xxxiii. 24. 



TF the spirit can so far prevail as to remove the 
sickness wholly from itself, and banish it into 
the body only, an immense step is gained ; and 
we may then bear bodily ailments not' only with 
apparent but with real firmness and tranquillity ; 
and not only bear but draw from them much that 
softens and purifies the soul. 

Von Humboldt. 

The most painful part of our bodily pain is that 
which is bodiless or immaterial, namely, our impa- 
tience, and the delusion that it will last forever. 

Richter. 

The Shadow of the Rock ! 
One day of pain, 
Thou scarce wilt hope the Rock to gain 
Yet there wilt sleep thy last sleep on the plain 
And only wake 
In heaven's daybreak — 
Rest in the Shadow of the Rock. 

F. W. Faber. 

(108) 



April 18. 



As righteousness tendeth to life, so he that pursu- 
eth evil pursueth it to his own death. — Prov. xi. 



O through our great cities and observe the 



emaciated, sickly, and distorted specimens of 
humanity to be found therein ; recall your own 
existence and that of all the people with whose 
lives you are familiar ; recall the instances of vio- 
lent deaths and suicides of which you have 
heard, — and then ask yourself for what cause all 
this suffering and death, this despair that leads to 
suicide, has been endured. You will find, per- 
haps to your surprise, that nine-tenths of all 
the suffering endured by men is useless, and 
ought not to exist ; that, in fact, the majority 
of men are martyrs to the doctrine of the world. 



19. 




Count L. Tolstoi. 



And still we love the evil cause, 

And of the just effect complain ; 
We tread upon life's broken laws, 

And murmur at our self-inflicted pain. 

J. G. Whittier. 



(109) 



April 19. 



Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and 
doeth it not, to him it is sin. — James iv. 17, 



HE lawyer may not, cannot purify his pro- 



fession, but he can be a pure member in it. 
The merchant cannot stop the iniquitous prac- 
tices of trade, but he can be an honest merchant 
or else go out of business. The mother may not 
be able to keep down the shallow standards that 
bewitch her daughters, but she can pitch the key 
of her own life so high that the dignity of her 
soul will rebuke these standards and disarm them 
of their power. The father may not be able to 
keep his sons from temptations, but he can him- 
self desist from the filthy habit, the loose lan- 
guage, the indifferent life that his admiring child 
is more likely to copy from him than from any 



one else. Our lives cannot escape disappoint- 
ments and weaknesses ; but if we could only have 
faith in the efficacy of doing all we can, until 
faith ripens into faithfulness, there would flow 
into our lives a sweetness, a strength, and a peace 
that will ultimately overflow into the world, and 
into eternity. 




Jenkin Lloyd Jones. 



(no) 



April 20. 



For tJiere is one God, and one mediator between 
God and men, the man Christ Jesus. — i. Tim. ii. 5. 

A XD what is the peace from God which comes 
through this mediation ? First, we say. 
peace of mind, rest from those tossings of con- 
troversy for which there is no umpire or final 
appeal. . . . Human reason, after its guessings 
and roamings from sect to sect, yearns for a Lord 
and a Master, not to crush i: down, but to take it 
up, weak, bewildered, and weary, and fold it in 
that Divine Reason whence alone it borrows 
vigor and illumination. Here is rest from the 
trials of faith, peace from the j anglings of sect, 
assurance after the twilight gleams of our own 
intuitions. If vou have been through the circuit 
of guesswork after truth, and. like the man lost 
in boundless woods, come back at evening to the 
spot you left in the morning, you will rind how 
sweet is the intellectual repose in the Reason of 
God or the Word made flesh. E. H. Sears. 

Then shall thy tossing soul find anchorage 

And steadfast peace ; 
Thy love shall rest on His ; thy weary doubts 

Forever cease ; 
Thy heart shall find in Him, and in His grace, 

Its rest and bliss. 

BONAR. 

(in) 



April 21. 



Turn not to the right hand nor to the left : re- 
move thy foot from evil. — Prov. iv. 27, 



npHE whole scheme of our voluntary actions, 
all that we do from morning to night of every 
day, is beyond doubt intrusted to our control. 
. . . And, from our inmost consciousness, we do 
know that, if we will, we can make ourselves exe- 
cute whatever we approve, and strangle in its 
birth whatever we abhor. To-morrow morning:, 
if you choose tp take up a spirit of such power, 
you may rise, like a soul without a past, disen- 
gaged from the manifold coil of willing: usage. 
The coming hours are open yet, pure and spotless 
receptacles for whatever you may deposit there. 
Let us start up and live : here come the moments 
that cannot be had again ; some few may yet be 
filled with imperishable good. 

James Martineau. 



It is vanity to desire to live long, and not to 
care to live well. 

Thomas a Kempis. 

(112) 



April 22 



The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of 
myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me. — John 
xiv. 10. 

"\ \ 7*HAT was that word ? A creed ? A scheme 
of doctrine about God and man ? A web 
of intricate opinion ? So say all the men who 
make us weary with thinking. But so Christ did 
not say. His word was this : God is your 
Father, and He loves you like a child. You are 
His child. Simple enough ! Yes, but He Him- 
self rested his whole life upon it, and He needed 
no more ; and He rested the whole salvation of 
men upon it, and said they needed no more than 
that. Believe it ; it is all ; everything is in it. 
One rush of love will tell vou more of true 
religious life than all the disquisitions of 
preachers and teachers since the beginning of 
the world. 

Stopford A. Brooke. 

Dear God and Father of us all, 
Forgive our faith in cruel lies,— 
Forgive the blindness that denies ! 

Forgive thy creature when he takes, 
For the all-perfect love Thou art, 
Some grim creation of his heart. 

J. G. Whittier. 

. (113) 



April 23. 



No weapon that is formed against thee shall pros- 
per ; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in 
judgment thou shalt condemn, — Isa. liv. 17. 



IT our neighbor injures us by improper words, 
x or in any other way, it is as much an event in 
divine Providence, considered in its relation to 
ourselves, as any event could be by which we 
might be afflicted. God's hand is really in it, al- 
though it may require a higher faith to see it. 
Happy is the man who has the requisite faith, and 
who has those patient and acquiescent disposi- 
tions which such a faith is calculated to produce. 

T. C. Upham. 



But give diligent ear to my words, and thou 
shalt not regard ten thousand words spoken by 
men. Behold, if all should be spoken against 
thee that cculd be most maliciously invented, 
what would it hurt thee, if thou sufferedst it to 
pass entirely away, and madest it of no more 
reckoning than a mote ? Could it pluck so much 
as one hair from thy head ? 

Thomas a Kempis. 

("4) 



April 24. 

They Jielped every one his neighbor ; and every 
one said to his brother, Be of good courage. — Isa. 
xli. 6, 



DE not ashamed to be helped ; for it is thy 
business to do thy duty like a soldier in an 
assault on a town. How then if being* lame thou 
canst not mount up on the battlements alone, but 
with the help of another it is possible ? 

Marcus Aurelius. 



Oh, say not we through life must struggle, 

Must toil and mourn alone ; 
That no one human heart can answer 

The beatings of our own. 

Alone amid life's griefs and perils, 
The stoutest heart may quail ; 

Left to its own unaided efforts, 
The strongest arm may fail. 

Then let us learn to help each other, 

Hoping unto the end : 
Who sees in every man a brother, 

Shall rind in each a friend. 



("5) 



April 25. 



These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the 
other undone. — Matt, xxiii. 23. 



TE often have in the columns of religions 
newspapers sketches of eminent Christians. 
I read one lately of a farmer's wife who used to 
delight in prayer-meetings, celebrated her chil- 
dren's birthdays by prayer, and spent whole days 
in praying. All these are favorable signs, but, 
before I pronounce her an eminent Christian, I 
should like to know whether, previous to her with- 
drawal from the family circle to pray all day, she 
made any provision for the extra labor that her 
absence would devolve on others, or whether 
Bridget had to skim the milk and wash the pans 
besides her cooking, sweeping, and dusting, or 
whether the work was let go till next day : and. if 
so, whether the next day went smoothly. The 
trouble is. when you present things in this light, 
so many people look upon it as a substitution of 
moralitv for religion. — works for faith. It is 
nothing of the sort. It is brino;in°; one alongside 
the other, in which position only are they of any 
use in the world. 

Gail Hamilton. 

(n6) 



April 26. 



The Lord is in his holy temple, . . . his eyes be- 
hold, his eyelids try, the children of men. — Ps. 
xi. 4. 

npHE real reasons for the absence of the work- 
ing people from church, as they reveal them- 
selves in this correspondence of mine, resolve 
themselves into two : first, their inability to dress 
well enough to appear in a place as stylish and 
fashionable as the average church ; secondly, 
their sense of the injustice that workingmen, as a 
class, are receiving at the hands of capitalist em- 
ployers, as a class. ..." Of course," writes one, 
" the manufacturers can and should dress better 
than the laborer ; but when we see them so full 
of religion on Sunday, and then grinding the faces 
of the poor on the other six days, we are apt to 
think they are insincere." 

Washington Gladden. 

Have ye founded your thrones and altars, then, 
On the bodies and souls of living men ? 
And think you that building shall endure, 
Which shelters the noble, and crushes the poor ? 

J. R. Lowell. 



("7) 



April 27. 



Blessed is he that cons icier eth the poor, — Ps. 
xli. i. 

TT is your garret I wish to visit. . . . Only see 
what an accumulation of things ! . . . What 
do vou do with all these ? . . . Sell them ? No, 
certainly not, you would make so little profit by 
them. Are you still going to keep them ? But 
what good are they ? Listen. , . . That old arm- 
chair will serve as a bed for an infirm old man to 
rest on. These pieces of furniture, repaired a 
little, will make a whole family happy. These 
worn garments and these linen rags, which can 
still be mended, will form the beginning of a 
wardrobe in a young household. That old tapes- 
try will become a coverlid. You do not imagine 
the joy one feels in depriving himself of a mate- 
rial object — a garment, for example — that it may 
serve for some poor person. 

" Golden Sands." 

He that hath two coats, let him impart to him 
that hath none. 

Luke iii. n. 

Thou hoard'st in vain what love should spend, 
Self-ease is pain ; thy only rest 
Is labor for a worthy end. 

J. G. Whittier. 

(118) 



April 28, 



Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see 
God, — Matt. v. 8. 

"\70U can keep impure thoughts out of your 
mind by thinking of that which is pure. 
You can keep vourself out of your mind bv think- 
ing of other people. . . . The mind is beneath 
your own control if you will choose to assert that 
control early. . . . Not at once, indeed, but yet 
by slow training, that control is possible. 

E. E. Hale. 

I watched the sparrows flitting here and there, 
In quest of food about the miry street ; 
Such nameless fare as seems to sparrows sweet 
They sought with greedy clamor everywhere. 
Yet, 'mid their strife, I noted with what care 
They held upraised their fluttering pinions fleet; 
They trod the mire with soiled and grimy feet, 
But kept their wings unsullied in the air. 

I, too, like thee, O sparrow, toil to gain 

My scanty portion from life's sordid ways, — 

Like thee, too, often hungry, I am fain 

To strive with greed and envy all my days. 

Would that I, too, like thee, might learn the grace 

To keep my soul's uplifted wings from stain. 

Susan M. Spaulding. 



("9) 



April 29. 



And Jesus answering, said unto them, Render to 
CcEsar the things which are Ccesar's, and to God the 
things that are God's. — Mark xii. 17. 

A /TEN deny the doctrine of trust, and feel less 
the duty of service in respect of money than 
of all other things. And if Christ could return 
to the earth now and sit in judgment upon us, and 
show us the way of duty, the consecration of 
money would be the great thing, I believe, which 
he would strive to impress upon us ; and if he 
could call us all before him with our coins, — all 
the coins that we have spent in the years of our 
responsibility, — one of his most serious questions 
would be, as he inspected each of them, " Whose 
image and superscription is this ? " And as he 
saw them so generally stamped with the figures of 
Pleasure and Mammon, he would ask, in a tone 
that would search the secret places of our souls, 
" Where are those that have been rendered unto 
God by the good that they have done in the 
world ? " Starr King. 

Ah ! when shall all men's good 
Be each man's rule, and universal Peace 
Lie like a shaft of light across the land, 
And like a lane of beams across the sea, 
Thro' all the circle of the golden year ? 

Tennyson. 

(120) 



April 30. 

And this is the victory that overcometh the world, 
even our faith, — i. John v. 4. 



HERE is nothing which faith does not over- 



come ; nothing which it will not accept. 
Faith passes beyond all earthly things, pierces all 
shadows, to attain the truth ; keeps it ever in a 
firm embrace ; and will never let herself be sepa- 
rated from it. The simplicity and elevation which 
faith gives to the soul make it satisfied with 
everything. Nothing is wanting to it : nothing is 
too much for it : and at all times it blesses the 
Divine hand which causes the waters of grace to 
flow so gently upon it. It has the same tender- 
ness for friends and enemies, being taught bv 
Jesus Christ to regard all men as God"s instru- 
ments. 




Bishop Huntington. 




May 1. 



I find then a law z that, when I would do good, 
evil is present with me. ■ — Rom. vii. 21. 



HERE are times in the lives of all of us. I 



think, when it seems to us not impossible 
that we should commit very great sins. Just as 
there are times when we catch sight of the possi- 
bility of holiness which lies above us. and compre- 
hend, with rapturous hope, how good it is in our 
power to become ; so there are these other times 
when the mysreriousness of our nature opens its 
other side, and the crimes and vices, at which we 
and all men tremble, seem to be not wholly im- 
possible to us. Such times are not our worst 
times, certainly. Often they are times which, by 
their very sense of danger, are the safest and 
strongest of our lives. 




Phillips Brooks. 



Half feeling our own weakness, 

We place our hands in Thine ; 
Knowing but half our darkness, 



We ask for light divine. 



(122) 



May 2. 



Be perfect, be of good co???fort, be of one mind, live 
in peace ; and the God of love and peace shall be 
with you. — ii. Cor. xiii. n. 



TF we would walk perfectly before God, we 
must endeavor to do common things, such as 
are of every day's occurrence, and of but small 
account in the eyes of the world, in a perfect 
manner. Some persons are so mentally consti- 
tuted that they could more easily undergo the 
sufferings of martyrdom than properly regulate 
and control their feelings in their families during 
twenty-four hours. How dreadful is that delusion, 
which excuses itself in its imperfections, because, 
in the providence of God, it is not permitted to 
do or suffer some great thing. Happy is he who 
can do God's will in the solitary place, and who 
can win the crown without going to the stake. 

T. C. Upham. 

Every hour that fleets so slowly, 

Has its task to do or bear; 
Luminous the crown and holy, 

If thou set each gem with care. 

Adelaide Procter. 

(123) 



May 3. 



Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for 
new heave?is and a new earth, wherei?i dwelleth 
righteousness. — n. Peter iii. 13. 



TF we make of this world, so far as we are con- 
cerned, a world " wherein dwelleth righteous- 
ness/' so far do we anticipate the fruition of the 
new world, the new Jerusalem. Let us aim at 
this tranquil, this sober happiness of quiet and 
confidence and peace in God. 

Canon Farrar. 



And wouldst thou hasten in another soul 

God's Kingdom on the earth of love and peace ? 
Learn first thyself, thy spirit to control; 

From all that's false and evil in thee cease. 
Nor think that suddenly the reign shall come 

With pomp and glory for the outward eye ; 
Within, around thee, in thine earthly home, 

The Kingdom of the Lord is drawing nigh ! 
As shines the light with still increasing ray, 

Till from the earth the brooding night has fled, 
So in man's spirit comes the eternal day, 

As gently as the dawn its beams have spread; 
Till all within, and all around is bright, 
And the whole world rejoices in its light. 

Jones Very. 

(124) 



May 4. 



The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a 
stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy, — Prov, 
xiv. 10. 



TVJOT a blade of grass but has a story to tell, 
not a heart but has its romance, not a life 
which does not hide a secret which is either its 
thorn or its spur. Everywhere grief, hope, com- 
edy, tragedy ; even under the petrifaction of old 
age, as in the twisted forms of fossils, we may 
discover the agitations and tortures of youth. 
This thought is the magic wand of poets and 
preachers ; it strips the scales from our fleshly 
eyes, and gives us a clear view into human life ; 
it opens to the ear a world of unknown melodies, 
and makes us understand the thousand languages 
of nature. 

Amiel. 



Each hath his lonely peak, and on each heart 
Envy, or scorn, or hatred tears lifelong 
With vulture beak; yet the high soul is left; 
And faith, which is but hope grown' wise ; and love 
And patience, which at last shall overcome. 

J. R. Lowell. 

(125) 



May 5. 



Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what 
judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged : and with 
what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you 
again. — Matt. vii. i, 2. 

"\70U cannot judge a man's character according 
to the appearance of any single act. You 
must know the man before you can praise or 
blame him for the act. You must know the 
circumstances which preceded it, the many mo- 
tives which entered into every act, and the sum 
of which impelled it, before you can truly judge 
the man from the action. The act itself is the 
apparent thing, and is a poor ground for judg- 
ment. 

Stopford A. Brooke. 

How can men judge rightly of our actions, 
appearing as they do but singly or in fragments 
to them ? 

Goethe. 

Judge not ; the workings of his brain 
And of his heart thou canst not see ; 

What looks to thy dim eyes a stain, 
In God's pure light may only be 

A scar brought from some well-won field, 

Where thou wouldst only faint and yield. 

Adelaide Procter. 

(126) 



May 6. 



Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with 
him : for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. — 
Isa. iii. 10. 

IVfO good action, no good example, dies. It 
lives forever in our race. While the frame 
moulders and disappears, the deed leaves an 
indelible stamp, and moulds the very thought 
and will of future generations. Time is not the 
measure of a noble work ; the coming age will 
share our joy. A single virtuous action has ele- 
vated a whole village, a whole city, a whole 
nation. ... It is from small seeds dropt into the 
ground that the finest productions grow; and it 
is from the inborn dictates of Conscience and the 
inspired principle of Duty that the finest growths 
of Character have arisen. 

S. Smiles. 

Stern lawgiver ! yet thou dost wear 

The Godhead's most benignant grace ; 
Nor know I anything so fair 

As is the smile upon thy face ; 
Flowers laugh before thee on their beds, 
And fragrance in thy footing treads ; 
Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong, 
And the most ancient heavens are through thee 
fresh and strong. 

Wordsworth. 

(127) 



May 7. 



When I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light 
unto me. — Micah vii. 8. 

HPHERE are deep places in life. For years we 
pass on in a circle of routine, until we reach 
a crisis. Sometimes years of cloudless prosperity 
are at once interrupted by a succession of troubles, 
as the smooth stream of a river is broken by 
rapids and hurried suddenly down a cataract. 
The happy family is entered by death. . . . Love 
is disappointed, — hopes are frustrated, — pros- 
perity ceases, — adversity comes, — sickness de- 
spoils us of our energies. In such hours we seem 
to descend, step by step, into still more profound 
depths of trial and sorrow. But from these 
depths the heart sees God more clearly than from 
the sunny hill-tops of a happy life, — as persons 
can see the stars at mid-day from the bottom of a 
well. When all around us grows dark the inward 
light grows stronger and clearer. 

J. F. Clarke. 

Whatever's lost, it first was won, 
W e will not struggle nor impugn. 
Perhaps the cup was broken here, 
That Heaven's new wine might show more clear. 
I praise Thee while my days go on. 

E. B. Browning. 

(128) 



May 8. 



// is written, Man shall not live by bread alone. 
— Matt. iv. 4. 



ET each one obey what is deepest, highest, 
purest in him. That is the word, the revela- 
tion, the Adesh of God. He that allows the con- 
sideration of carnal comfort, even of carnal 
necessity, to stand in the w r ay runs the risk of 
losing the highest self in him. The struggle for 
existence in a truly spiritual man points to abso- 
lute fidelity to the ideal, while hunger and fatigue 
s.are him in the face. The whole question of 
worldliness and asceticism centres here. The 
bread that man eats is a small matter, and the 
sure accompaniment of what he holds as his high- 
est pursuit. But he that sacrifices his ideal to his 
bread finds, when it is too late, that man does not 
live by bread alone. 

P. C. Mozoomdar. 



We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; 
In feelings, not in figures on a dial. 

P. J. Bailey. 

(129) 



May 9. 



When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will 
guide you into all truth : . . . and he will show you 
things to come. — John xvi. 13. 

"\ \ TE receive truth under limitations ; this must 
necessarily be so, and Progress consists in 
the continually passing from the form of the truth 
we hold to a higher and wider form. The forms 
of truth are opinion : these forms must always be 
limitations of the truth, and true growth is the 
passing from one of these forms to another, which 
shall not oppose or contradict the former, but en- 
close and transcend it : so that it is never new 
truth we attain unto, but necessarily higher forms 
of the old, eternal truth, which knows no " be- 
ginning of days nor length of years." 

Eliza T. Clapp. 

Truth is eternal, but her effluence, 
With endless change, is fitted to the hour; 
Her mirror is turned forward to reflect 
The promise of the future, not the past. 
He who would win the name of truly great 
Must understand his own age, and the next, 
And make the present ready to fulfil 
Its prophecy, and with the future merge 
Gently and peacefully, as wave with wave. 

J. R. Lowell. 

(130) 



May 10. 

Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the 
bond of peace. — Eph. iv. 3. 

"OERHAPS the most vast discomfort, not to say 
misery, endured in this world, consists in en- 
forced companionship. Millions of people will 
rise to-morrow morning who will have to pass the 
day with companions who are profoundly uncon- 
genial to them. And the worst of it is that un- 
congeniality is a thing that goes on deepening and 
widening. Is there any remedy to be found for 
this evil ? I think possibly there may be. I 
think that a person may by thought encourage 
and develop congeniality. . . . Depend upon it, 
when you find persons difficult to live with, and 
thoroughly uncongenial to you, it is that you have 
failed to discover and to appeal to those primeval 
and better elements of their characters which 
would yield pleasant fruits to an intelligent culti- 
vation of congeniality on your part. 

Sir Arthur Helps. 

Fairly sought, some point of contact 
There must be with every mind ; 

And, perchance, the closest compact 
Where we least expect to find. 

Frances R. Havergal. 

(131) 



May 11. 



Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous. — Prov, 
xxvii. 4. 

A NGER . . . makes a man's body monstrous, 
deformed, and contemptible ; the voice horrid, 
the eyes cruel, the face pale or fiery, the gait 
fierce, the speech clamorous and loud. It is 
neither manly nor ingenuous. It proceeds from 
softness of spirit and pusillanimity. ... It is a 
passion fitter for flies and insects than for persons 
professing nobleness. 

Jeremy Taylor. 

Do you wish not to be passionate ? Do not, then, 
cherish the habit within you, and do not add any 
stimulant thereto. Be calm at first, and then 
number the days in which you have not been in a 
rage. . . . " I did not yield to vexation to-day, 
nor the next dav, nor so on for two or three 
months, but I restrained mvself under various 
provocations." Be sure, if you can say that, that 
it will soon be all right with you . . . for the 
habit is first loosened, then utterly eradicated. 

Epictetus. 

Let me no wrong or idle word 

Unthinking say ; 
Set Thou a seal upon my lips 

Just for to-day. 



May 12. 



But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the 
wrong which he hath done ; and there is no respect 
of persons, — ■ Col. iii. 25. 



/^UR discontents and anxieties have their ori- 
gin in moral evil. The lines of suffering; on 
almost every human countenance have been deep- 
ened, if not traced there, by unfaithfulness to con- 
science, by departures from duty. To do wrong 
is the surest way to bring suffering ; no wrong 
deed ever failed to bring it. Those sins which 
are followed by no palpable pain are yet terribly 
avenged even in this life. They abridge our ca- 
pacity of happiness, impair our relish for innocent 
pleasure, and increase our sensibility to suffering. 
No enemy can do us equal harm with what we do 
ourselves whenever or however we violate anv re- 
ligious or moral obligation. 

W. E. Channing. 

Let fraud, and wrong, and baseness shiver, 
For still between them and the sky 

The falcon truth hangs poised forever 
And marks them with his vengeful eye. 

J. R. Lowell. 

033) 



May 13. 



As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good 
unto all men, — Gal. vi. 10. 

TTAVE you any leisure hours ? and, if so, are 
they turned to good account ? A little time 
spent upon benevolent objects may be of more 
avail in promoting them than much money. Do 
we ever spend our spare time so ? Does your 
position and state of life give you any oppor- 
tunity of usefulness to others ? and, if so, do you 
avail yourself of such opportunity ? If you can 
do nothing else for your fellow-men, may you not 
perhaps console them by your presence with them, 
and by the mere commonplace intimation of your 
sympathy ? May you not say a word of kindness 
or encouragement, or bring together estranged 
friends, or persuade able men to the course to 

which God seems to be calling them ? 

Dean Goulburn. 



Do not, then, stand idly waiting 
For some greater work to do : 

Go and toil in any vineyard, 
Do not fear to do or dare ; 
If you want a field of labor, 
You can find it anywhere. 

(134) 



May 14. 



Who for the joy that was set before him endured 
the cross, despising the shame. — Heb. xii. 2. 

\X THAT is my cross of to-day? It is a person 
whom Providence has placed near me, and 
whom I dislike; who humiliates me constantly 
by her disdainful manner ; who wearies me by 
her slowness in the work which I share with her; 
who excites my jealousy because she is loved 
more than I, and because she succeeds better 
than I ; who irritates me by her chatter, her 
frivolity, or even by her attentions to me. It is a 
person who, for some vague reason, I believe to 
be inimical to me ; who, according to my excited 
imagination, watches me, criticises me, ridicules 
me. How must I bear my cross of to-day ? By 
not showing in any way the weariness, the dislike, 
or the involuntary repulsion which her presence 
causes me. By obliging myself to render her 
some service ; it matters little whether she knows 
it, — it is a secret between God and me. 

" Golden Sands." 

We need as much the cross we bear 
As air we breathe, as light we see ; 

It draws us to Thy side in prayer, 
It binds us to our strength in Thee. 

A. L. Waring, 

(135) 



May 15. 



Be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding in 
the work of the Lord. — i. Cor. xv. 58. 



TT is a melancholy fact that the religion of 
many persons is not constantly operative, but 
is manifested periodically, or at some particular 
times. It is assumed, for instance, on the Sab- 
bath, but is laid aside on the shelf during the 
week days ; but true holiness, be it remembered, 
is not a thing to be worn for occasions ; to be put 
off or put on, with an easy accommodation to cir- 
cumstances or to one's private convenience. It 
takes too deep root in the heart to be so easily 
disposed of as such a course would imply. It is 
meat, with which we are fed ; clothing, with which 
we are clothed ; the interior and permanent prin- 
ciple of life, which animates and sustains the 
whole man. 

T. C. Upham. 



Lord, send me work to do for Thee, 

Let not a single day 
Be spent in waiting on myself, 
Or wasted pass away. 

E. Prentiss. 

(136) 



May 16. 



For who maketh thee to differ from another ? and 
what hast thou that thou didst not receive ? ?iow, if 
thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou 
hadst not received it ? — i. Cor. iv. 7. 

TT is always disagreeable when a man's self- 
esteem lets itself out in disparagement of 
others, even when they are very small men. A 
frivolous character may take his joke out of 
others, and treat them with every disrespect, just 
because he has no respect for himself. He who 
has learnt on solid grounds to put some value on 
himself seems to have renounced the ri^ht of 
undervaluing others. And what are the best of 
us, that we should lift ourselves proudly above 
our brethren ? 

Goethe. 

Frail creatures are we all ! To be the best 

Is but the fewest faults to have : — ■ 
Look thou, then, to thyself, and leave the rest 

To God, thy conscience, and the grave. 

Coleridge. 

The highest and most profitable lesson is the 
true knowledge and lowly esteem of ourselves. 

Thomas a Kempis. 

(!37) 



May 17. 



Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with 
another. — Mark ix. 50. 

TTOW many persons, perhaps of fine abilities 
and magnanimous virtues, we one and all 
say we would not wish to live with, because they 
are nervous and captious, and carry a tinder with 
them that catches at every spark ! Would you 
make yourself dear to every domestic scene you 
enter, form the habit of forbearance, and all your 
kindred will bless vour face for its own benedic- 
tion. Your very coming in at the door shall be 
as a balm ; and that comfort is not insignificant 
which is repeated, a drop of sweetness in every 
draught, a thousand and a million times. While 
the effect of forbearance will be not only to make 
you comfortable to others, but to deepen the 
power and harmonize the development of your 
own souk 

C. A. Bartol. 

Who are the blest? 
They who have kept their sympathies awake, 
And scattered joy for more than custom's sake — 
Steadfast and tender in the hour of need, 
Gentle in thought, benevolent in deed ; 
Whose looks have power to make dissension cease — 
Whose smiles are pleasant, and whose words are peace. 

(13s) 



May 18. 



For none of us liveth to himself, and no man 
dieth to himself. — Rom. xiv. y, 

9 I ^HAT which is built on selfishness cannot 
stand. The system of personal interest must 
be shivered to atoms. Therefore we. who have 
observed the ways of God in the past, are waiting 
in quiet but awful expectation until He shall con- 
found this system, as He has confounded those 
that have gone before. 

F. W. Robertson. 

No man has come to true greatness who has 
not felt in some decree that his life belongs to his 
race, and that what God gives him He gives him 
for mankind. The different degrees of conscious- 
ness are reallv what make the different decrees 
of greatness in men. 

Phillips Brooks. 

For I say this is death and the sole death, 

When a man's loss comes to him from his Sfain, 

Darkness from light, from knowledge ignorance, 

And lack of love from love made manifest ; 

A lamp's death, when, replete with oil, it chokes ; 

A stomach's, when, surcharged with food- it starves. 

Robert Browning. 

039) 



May 19c 



I say unto you, There is joy in the presence of the 
angels of God over o?ie sinner that repenteth. — 
Luke xv. io. 

\/ r OU and I, my friends, find scant reward in 
this outward world for any pains and labors 
we undergo in striving to save lost men. It is 
not easy to contend against the selfishness of 
men, to strive for the reform of evils and abuses 
before it becomes popular; ... if you sympathize 
with labor, to be named a communist ; if you con- 
tend against bigotry, to be cast out as a heretic ; 
if you plead for ideals that are high, and changes 
that are radical, to be styled a visionary. Nor is 
it pleasant to go down into the depths after lost 
men, to eat and drink with sinners. . . . There is 
a great deal of good work to be done in the world 
that demands no sacrifice, and yields a sufficient 
reward in the gratitude of society, but this special 
work has no such reward. ..." True," says the 
Christ, " but there is a satisfaction in it beyond 
and above what you know - — the joy of heaven.'' 

T. T. Munger. 

Arise, my soul ! nor dream the hours 

Of life away; 
Arise ! and do thy being's work 

While yet 'tis day. 

(140) 



May 20. 



He that goeth about as a tale-bearer revealeth se- 
crets : therefore meddle not with him that flattereth 
with his lips. — Pro v. xx. 19, 



ISTEN not to a tale-bearer or slanderer, for 
— ' he tells thee nothing out of good-will ; but 
as he discovereth of the secrets of others, so he 
will of thine in turn. 

Socrates. 



When will evil speakers refrain from talking ? 
When listeners refrain from evil hearing. 



The world with calumny abounds, 

The whitest virtue slander wounds : 

There are whose joy is, night and day, 

To talk a character away. 

Eager from rout to rout they haste 

To blast the generous and the chaste, 

And hunting reputation down 

Proclaim their triumph through the town. 

What mind 's in such a base employment 

To feel the slightest self-enjoyment ! 

Pope. 

(i 4 i) 



May 21. 



For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over a?id 
gone ; the flowers appear on the earth ; the time of 
the singing of birds is come. — Solomon's Song ii. 

IT, 12. 



PHANK God, then, friends, for the resurrec- 
tion thoughts which the spring months bring 
to us! We die to live again. We die that we 
may live again. Nothing is quickened save it 
die. Mortality is the condition of all immortality. 
. . . The opening spring prints it off on every 
hillside in illuminated text of leaf and flower. 

William C. Gannett. 



So when spring comes, 
And sunshine comes again like an old smile, 
And the fresh waters and awakened birds 
And budding woods await us, I shall be 
Prepared, and we will go and think again, 
And all old loves shall come to us, but changed 
As some sweet thought which harsh words veiled before, 
Feeling God loves us, and that all that errs 
Is a strange dream which death will dissipate. 

Robert Browning. 



04 2 ) 



May 22. 



Behold, I show you a mystery ; We shall not all 
sleep, but we shall all be changed. — i. Cor. xv. 51. 

And as we have borne the image of the earthy, 
we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. ■ — ■ 1. 
Cor. xv. 49. 

OCEPTICISM as to things spiritual and celes- 
tial is as irrational and unphilosophical as it 
is deo-radino*. Who that sends his eve over this 
immense creation can doubt that there are orders 
of beings superior to ourselves, or can see any- 
thing unreasonable in the doctrine that there are 
states in which mind exists less circumscribed 
and clogged by matter than on earth ; in other 
words, that there is a spiritual world ? 

W. E. Channing. 

" Yes," replied Socrates, " all men will agree 
that God and the essential form of life, and the 
immortal in general will never perish." 



Life is the jailer, Death the angel sent 

To draw the unwilling bolts and set us free, 

J. R. Lowell. 

043) 



May 23. 



Prove all things ; hold fast that which is good. — 
j. Thess. v. 21. 



\\ WHATEVER be your condition or calling in 
life, keep in view the whole of your exist- 
ence. Act not for the little span of time allotted 
you in this world, but act for eternity. Look be' 
vond the narrow limits of earth, to the scenes of 
that eternal world to which you are going, and 
ever aim to do what will promote your best inter- 
ests, ten thousand ages hence, when all the riches 
and honors of earth shall have vanished away. 
Then shall you rise superior to every false, un- 
worthy principle of action, and attain the true 
dignity and happiness of intelligent beings. Then 
shall you be safe amidst all temptations, and 
happy amidst all trials. 

Joel Hawes, 

With aching hands and bleeding feet 
We dig and heap, lay stone on stone ; 
We bear the burden and the heat 
Of the long day, and wish 'twere done. 
Not till the hours of light return 
All we have built do we discern. 

Matthew Arnold. 

(i44) 



May 24 



For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in 
heaven and earth is named. — Eph. iii. 14, 15. 

TT was found when one of the great ocean 
steamers was on the verge of shipwreck the 
passengers, who represented almost every sect in 
Christendom, and who before had- kept apart in 
groups, forgot all their sectarianism in the pres- 
ence of a common danger, and they knelt and 
prayed together as one family in Christ, about to 
be summoned to his bar. Precisely so it would 
be in the great voyage of life. Let the fact be 
fully pondered, that there is no Utopian indepen- 
dence of the common lot, that there is a woe 
that presses down separately on every man's soul, 
and that he, like myself, is wrestling hard with it, 
though it comes to every man in various shape, 
and suited to his condition, — let this be pon- 
dered as it should be, and every man will look 
upon every other man as bound to himself by a 
more interesting and tender tie. 

E. H. Sears. 

Thou Grace Divine, encircling all, 

A shoreless, soundless sea, 
Wherein at last our souls must fall, 

O love of God most free ! 

Eliza Scudder. 

(145) 



May 25. 



Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the 
vines. — Solomon's Song ii. 15. 



HPHE road to home happiness lies over small 
stepping-stones. Slight circumstances are 
the stumbling-blocks of families. The prick of a 
pin, says the proverb, is enough to make an 
empire insipid. The tenderer the feelings, the 
painfuller the wound. A cold, unkind word 
checks and withers the blossom of the dearest 
love, as the most delicate rings of the vine are 
troubled bv the faintest breeze. ' The misery of a 
life is born of a chance observation. If the true 
history of quarrels^ public and private, were 
honestly written, it would be silenced with a roar 
of derision. 



The angry word suppressed, the taunting thought ; 

Subduing and subdu'd the petty strife, 

Which clouds the color of domestic life; 

The sober comfort, all the peace which springs 

From the large aggregate of little things; 

On these small cares of daughter, wife, or friend, 

The almost sacred joys of home depend. 

Hannah More. 



(146) 



May 26 



Be not deceived ; God is not mocked : for luhat- 
soever a man soweih, that shall he also reap. — ■ 
Gal. vi. 7. 

A /TEN recognize law outside of them : know 



that the heavy will fall ; that the li^zht will 
float ; that on the swallowed poison disease or 
death will ensue ; and vet dream of evading the 
action of the same law, by which misery clings to 
vice, and happiness radiates from virtue. . . . 
YVe hope to be idle without being ignorant ; to be 
selfish without being self-tormented ; to be sen- 
sual without being robbed of spirit ; and yet law is 
inviolable : the path of God is straight as a can- 
non ball's : it turns not aside for our regrets or 
wishes. What we sow we reap, says Paul : the 
action that we do, its weight we must bear : the 
fault of to-day brings forth its fruit in the failure 
of to-morrow. Eliza T. Clapp. 

No action, whether foul or fair, 

Is ever done but leaves somewhere 

A record written with fingers ghostly, 

As a blessing or curse, and mostly 

In the greater weakness or greater strength 

Of the acts which follow it, till at length 

The wrongs of ages are redressed 

And the justice of God made manifest. 




Longfellow. 



(147) 



May 27. 



Awake, psaltery and harp : I myself will awake 
early. — Ps. cviii. 2. 



WAKE, my spirit ! be more fervent ; cast off 



the galling chains that drag thee to earth ; 
plume thine immortal wings and rise, ■ — rise and 
live worthv of thine exalted destiny ! Thou art 
not like the worm of the valley, which perisheth ; 
thou art not like the flower of the field, which 
springeth up and maketh a goodly show for a 
little time, and then fadeth forever away : no, 
thou shalt live, though thy frail body be rendered 
to the low, strange tomb; thy soul — thy heaven- 
born soul — shall return, glad in its glorious 
being, to God, who first gave it life ; — for He 
created man to be immortal, and made him an 
image of His own eternity. 




Dorothea Dix. 



Awake, my soul ! stretch every nerve 

And press with vigor on ; 
A heavenly race demands thy zeal, 

And an immortal crown. 



Doddridge. 



(i 4 8) 



May 28. 



For this is the message that ye heard from the be- 
ginning, that we should love one another, — i. John 
iii. ii. 

HPHE New Englander's reticency seems to be a 
cross between the English shyness and the 
Indian's stoicism. There is plenty of feeling, but 
the feeling does not show itself. Now, this is 
bad for all parties. It is bad for you who keep 
the secret of your love, and it is bad for those 
you love who have a right to know it. Remember 
that awful story of John Foster. He idolized his 
son, but he kept his love so secret from the young 
man that he never knew it till within an hour of 
his death. Then, from his father's agony, the 
young man detected this secret of a life, and tried 
to reassure his father by saying, " I die happy, 
for I know now what I have never dreamed of, — ■ 
how well you love me." Now, that reticence, 
that lack of demonstration, as you call it, was as 
bad for John Foster as it was for his boy. 

E. E. Hale. 

There is a comfort in the strength of love ; 
'Twill make a thing endurable,- which else 
Would overset the brain, or break the heart. 

Wordsworth. 

049) 



May 29 



The hay appear ~eth, and the tender grass showeth 
itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered. — 
Prov. xxvii. 25. 

T BELIEVE that every little thing that helps 
us is a Means of Grace. The blossoming 
hawthorn-tree, whose beauty and fragrance turned 
the mind quite away from certain irritative 
thoughts to something better ; that little green 
hill, treeless, no more than great fields of grow- 
ing corn, which turned so miraculously verdant in 
a short-lived gleam of summer light, and smiled 
in your worn face till the deepened lines went and 
the heart was calmed and soothed : if Christ used 
these common things to make you gentler and 
kinder, to draw you away from a cold and grace- 
less tract of spiritual contemplation : what were 
they but pleasant Means of Grace ? 

A. H. K. Boyd. 

Hark ! how the winds have changed their note, 
And with warm whispers call thee out ! 
The frosts are past, the storms are gone, 
And backward life at last comes on. 
The lofty groves, in express joys, 
Reply unto the turtle's voice ; 
And here, in dust and dirt, oh here, 
The lilies of His love appear. 

Henry Vaughan. 

(150) 



May 30. 



Now is our salvation nearer than when we be- 
lieved. — Rom. xiii. n. 

TVTOW is the day of salvation, says Paul : yes, 
because now is the judgment day. There 
may be no visible gathering of the nations, no 
palpable dividing of the sheep from the goats; 
. . . yet daily, hourly, in all the myriad lives that 
throng this world, that solemn parable is coming 
true, and men are passing, little by little, away 
from right, away from God, further and further 
from peace and blessedness, or are " coming up 
higher," into that fuller, nobler life to which all 
true living ever tends. Brothers and sisters, 
which is it to be ? 

Brooke Herford. 



Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, 
In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil 
side ; 

Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the 

bloom or blight, 
Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the 

right, 

And the choice goes by forever 'twixt that darkness and 
that light. 

J. R. Lowell. 



I 



May 31. 

I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be 
praised : so shall I be saved from my enemies. — 
Ps. xviii. 3. 

\ \ THEN St. Felix of Nola was hotly pursued 
by murderers, he took refuge in a cave, 
and instantly, over the rift of it, the spiders wove 
their webs, and, seeing this, the murderers passed 
by. Then said the saint, " Where God is not, a 
wall is but a spider's web ; where God is, a 
spider's web is as a wall." What will prayer do 
for you ? I answer, All that God can do for you. 
. . . W T e toil and moil and scrape, and make our- 
selves anxious about the dust and dross of earth, 
and all the while God is holding forth to us in 
vain the crown of immortality, and the golden 
keys of the treasures of heaven ! 

Canon Farrar* 

From the recesses of a lowly spirit, 
Our humble prayer ascends; O Father! hear it; 
Borne on the trembling wings of awe and meekness, 
Forgive its weakness. 

We see Thy hand ; it leads us, it supports us : 
We hear Thy voice ; it counsels and it courts us : 
And then we turn away ; and still Thy kindness 
Forgives our blindness. 

Sir John Bowring. 

(152) 



June 1. 



Holding forth the word of life ; that I may re- 
joice in the day of Christ, that I have 7iot run in 
vain, neither labored in vain. — Phil. ii. 16. 



ND, after all, is not that enough to have lived 



for, to have found out one true thing, and 
therefore one imperishable thing in one's life ? 
If each one of us could but say, when he died, 
" This one thing I have found out, this one thing 
I have proved to be possible ; this one eternal 
fact I have rescued from Hela, the realm of the 
formless and unknown," — how rich one such 
generation might make the world forever. 



Still glides the stream, and shall not cease to glide ; 

The Form remains, the Function never dies; 

While we, the brave, the mighty, and the wise, 

We men, who in our morn of youth defied 

The element, must vanish ; — be it so ! 

Enough, if something from our hands have power 

To live, and act, and serve the future hour; 

And if, as toward the silent tomb we go, 

Through love, through hope, and faith's transcendent dower, 

We feel that we are greater than we know. 




Charles Kingsley. 



Wordsworth. 



(iS3) 



June 2. 



Lord, 7nake me to k?iow mine e?id, and the measure 
of my days what it is; that / may know how frail 
I am. — Ps. xxxix. 4. 

"DLACE daily before your mind your end, 
Think most intently whose those things shall 
be, what they shall profit you. which shall remain 
after you. Think whither ve shall 2:0 ; what ve 
shall carry with you ; what, sent before bY you, 
ye shall find there. Of a truth, ye shall not carry 
thither, nor find there, aught but your own deeds, 
good or bad. This think ye ; these things medi- 
tate, by night and by day. in public or in private ; 
this be Your converse together. What do we ? 
Why linger we ? Near is our last day. How 

J O J 

spend we our life ? How make we amends to 
God for our sins ? Prepare we, as seeing close to 
us the day of our calling hence, and so fashion 
ourselves that we may, without fear, go to judg- 
ment, since there we shall receive what we have 
done in the body, good or bad. 

St. Axselm. 

Teach us so our days to number 

That we may be lowly-wise ; 
Dreary mist or cloud of slumber 

Never dull our heavenward eyes. 

T. W. Jex-Blake. 

(154) 



June 3. 



Neither murmur ye, as so7ne of them also tnur~ 
mured, and were destroyed of the destroyer ; — i. 
Cor. x. io. 



TE complain of the slow, dull life we are 
forced to lead, of our humble sphere of ac- 
tion, of our low position in the scale of society, of 
our having no room to make ourselves known, oi 
our wasted energies, of our years of patience. So 
do we say that we have no Father who is direct- 
ing our life, so do we say that God has forgotten 
us, so do we boldly judge what life is best for us, 
and so by our complaining do we lose the use and 
profit of the quiet years. 

Bishop Huntington. 



Some murmur when their sky is clear, 

And wholly bright to view, 
If one small speck of dark appear 

In their great heaven of blue ; 
And some with thankful love are filled 

If but one streak of light, 
One ray of God's good mercy, gild 

The darkness of their night. 

R. C. Trench. 

(155) 



June 4. 

Why stand ye here all the day idle? — Matt. 
xx. 6. 



ET every dawn of morning be to you as the 
beginning of life, and every setting sun be 
to you as its close : — then let every one of these 
short lives leave its sure record of some kindly 
thing done for others — some goodly strength or 
knowledge gained for yourselves. 

J. Ruskin. 

Dost thou consider with sufficient seriousness 
the great end for which thou wast sent into the 
world ? Dost thou take account of thy talents, 
whether they be few or many, and put them to a 
good use — or, like the faithless servant, hast thou 
buried them under accumulated follies? 

Dorothea Dix. 



Father, I thank Thee that the day begins, 
And I within Thy Vineyard too am sent ; 

That I may struggle on against my sins, 
And seek to double what to me is lent. 

JOxNes Very. 

(156) 



June 5. 



Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in 
me. — Luke vii. 23. 

THHAT is the last and best proof of His au- 



thority over us — the blessedness, the happi- 
ness of those who, being brought to Him by what- 
ever means, are " not offended,'' that is, do not 
stumble, and halt, and make difficulties, in their 
onward wav to a closer communion with Him, a 
c'earer knowledge of what He is and what He 
wishes them to be. 

" Blessed," so we seem to hear Him say, " shall 
be that doubting, half-believing John, in his soli- 
tude and despondency, if he still holds on stead- 



fastly, believing amidst his unbelief, hoping 
against hope, faithful among the faithless, — set 
free by the truth which he so sincerely sought." 



Workman of God, oh, lose not heart, 
But learn what God is like ! 

And, in the darkest battle-field, 
Thou shalt know where to strike. 

Oh, blest is he to whom is given 

The instinct that can tell . 
That God is on the field, when He 

Is most invisible. 




Dean Stanley. 



F. W. Faber. 



(is?) 



June 6. 

What is man that thou art mindful of him ? — 
Ps. viii. 4. 



TTERE is a little creature travelling on under 
my pen, not bigger than the dot over an i. 
Who knows where it is going, what it lives up- 
on, and whether it has not some anxiety on its 
mind. It goes very fast. I pause to watch it on 
its way. ... A good journey to thee, little crea- 
ture ; may God conduct thee whither thou wouklst 
go ! Have I frightened thee ? I am, no doubt, 
so large in thy eyes ; but perhaps for that very 
reason I escape thee like an immensity. My lit- 
tle insect might lead me very far ; I stop at and 
rest in this thought, that thus I too am in the eyes 
of God a little, an infinitely little creature that 
He loves. 

Eugenie de Guerin. 



Be Thou my Sun, my selfishness destroy, 

Thy atmosphere of Love be all my joy; 

Thy Presence be my Sunshine ever bright, 

My soul the little mote, that lives but in Thy light. 

Gerhard Tersteegen. 

(153) 



June 7. 

And your joy no man taketh from you, — ■ John 

Xvi. 22. 

IV TO man's life is free from struggles and morti- 



fications, not even the happiest; but every- 
one may build up his own happiness by seeking 
mental pleasures, and thus making himself inde- 
pendent of outward fortune. 



Joy is for all men. It does not depend on cir- 
cumstance or condition : if it did it could onlv be 
for the few. ... It is of the soul, or the soul's 
character ; it is the wealth of the soul's own be- 
ing, when it is filled with the spirit of Jesus, which 
is the spirit of eternal love. 



My mind to me a kingdom is ; 

Such present joys therein I find, 
That it excels all other bliss, 

That earth affords, or grows by kind. 

Sir Edward Dyer. 




Von Humboldt. 



H. Bushnell. 



(159) • 



June 8. 



The pastures are clothed with flocks ; the valleys 
also are covered over with corn ; they shout for joy, 
they also sing. — Ps. lxv. 13. 

f~\ WEARIED and worried souls, angered by ills 
^ _> ^ and meannesses you cannot redress, seek 
the reviving quietness of sacred Nature ; and He 
who made both you and them will calm and help 
you by green grass and green trees ! Further- 
more, if you desire to find the volume that is in 
deepest sympathy with every aspect of the crea- 
tion without, and every strange and incommuni- 
cable experience of the soul within you, it is not 
far to seek : It is the Book of Psalms. 

A. H. K. Boyd. 

Joy comes, grief goes, we know not how ; 
Everything is happy now, 

Everything is upward striving ; 
'Tis as easy now for the heart to be true 
As for grass to be green or skies to be blue,—- 

'Tis the natural way of living : 
Who knows whither the clouds have fled ? 

In the unscarred heaven they leave no wake; 
And the eyes forget the tears they have shed, 

The heart forgets its sorrow and ache. 

J. R. Lowell. 

(160) 



June 9. 



For who knoweth what is good for man in this 
life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth 
as a shadow ? for who can tell a man what shall be 
after him wider the sun ? — Eccl. vi. 12, 



HERE are depths of scepticism which the 



soul of man has sometimes to pass, in his 
pilgrim's progress toward God, — depths in which 
we lose our faith in God, in man, in ourselves, — - 
in which we ask for the meaning of the world and 
find none, — in which all things seem full of 
vanity and emptiness. ... In this condition of 
scepticism, when we are like children lost in a 
forest, what can we do but cry to God ? This is 
the remedy, this the cure. It is not reasoning or 
argument which can help us in this disease, but 
Prayer. If we have faith enough left to cry to 
God, Peace and Light may then return to us. 



I stretch lame hands of faith and grope, 
And gather dust and chaff, and call 
To what I feel is Lord of all, 

And faintly trust the larger hope. 

Tennyson. 




J. F. Clarke. 



(161) 



June 10. 



The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he 
addeth no sorrow with it. — Prov. x. 22. 



n^HERE is in man a Higher than love of hap- 
piness : he can do without Happiness, and 
instead thereof find Blessedness ! Was it not to 
preach forth this same Higher that sages and 
martyrs, the Poet and the Priest in all times, have 
spoken and suffered ; bearing testimony through 
life and through death, of the Godlike that is in 
man, and how in the Godlike only has he strength 
and freedom ' 

Carlyle. 



It is not happiness I seek, 
Its name I hardly dare to speak 
It is not made for man or earth, 
And Heaven alone can give it birth. 

There is a something sweet and pure, 
Through life, through death it may endure ; 
With steady foot I onward press, 
And long to win that Blessedness. 

Louisa J. Hall. 

(162) 



June 11. 



Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every ma?i be 
swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. - — James 
i. 19. 

T^IXD fault, when you must find fault, in pri- 
vate if possible ; and some time after the of- 
fence rather than at the time. The blamed are 
less inclined to resist when they are blamed with- 
out witnesses ; both parties are calmer, and the 
accused party is struck with the forbearance of 
the accuser, who has seen the fault and watched 
for a proper and private time for mentioning it. 

Sydney Smith. 



Hard speech between those who have loved is 
hideous in the memory, like the sight of greatness 
and beauty sunk into vice and rags. 

George Eliot. 



Think all you speak ; but speak not all you think : 
Thoughts are your own : your words are so no more. 

Wher^ wisdom steers, wind cannot make you sink : 
Lips never err when she does keep the door. 

Henry Delaune. 

(163) 



June 12 . 



And who is he that will harm you, if ye be fol- 
lowers of that which is good 1 — i. Peter iii. 13. 

T3 EGARD not much who is for thee or who 
against thee: but give all thy thought and 
care to this, that Gocl be with thee in everything 
thou doest. For whom God will help, no malice 
of man shall be able to hurt. 

Thomas a Kempis. 

How much trouble he avoids who does not look 
to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, 
but only to what he does himself, that it may be 
just and pure. 

Marcus Aurelius. 

Girt with the love of God on every side, 

Breathing that love as Heaven's own healing air, 

I work or wait, still following my guide. 
Braving each foe, escaping every snare. 

'Tis what I know of Thee, my Lord and God, 
That fills my sou] with peace, my lips with song; 

Thou art my health, my joy, my staff and rod ; 
Leaning on Thee, in weakness I am strong. 

BONAR. 

(164) 



June 13. 

Brethren, the time is short. — i. Cor. vii. 29. 



T^O you rightly estimate the importance of to- 
day ? That there are duties to be done 
to-dav which cannot be done to-morrow ? This it 
is that throws so solemn significance into your 
work. The time for working is short, therefore 
begin to-day ; for the night is coming, in which no 
man can work. 

F, W. Robertson. 



That which is good to be done cannot be done 
too soon ; and. if it is neglected to be done early, 
it will frequently happen that it will not be done 
at all. 

Bishop Manx. 

Then sow ; for the hours are fleeting 
And the seed must fall to-day : 
And care not what hands shall reap it, 
Or if you shall have passed away 
Before the waving cornfields 
Shall gladden the sunny day. 

Adelaide Procter. 

(i6 5 ) 



June 14 



That ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind 
striving together for the faith of the Gospel. — Phil. 
i. 27. 

A /TAN is uneasy and restless unless he feels 
some bond which takes his life into unity 
with everything else. He cannot be happy or 
content as a mere detached individual or specta- 
tor. There is some instinct in him which seeks 
peace and harmony. In prayer ... he faces 
the facts and trusts the laws of his being. It is 
as though he were a single instrument in a great 
orchestra, and prayer is the getting into tune. 
Words as before, if sincere, rationally express and 
direct this profound longing of our natures after 
unity. 

C. F. Dole. 

Yet, with hands by evil stained, 
And an ear by discord pained, 
I am groping for the keys 
Of the heavenly harmonies : 
Still within my heart I bear 
Love for all things good and fair. 
Hands of want or souls in pain 
Have not sought my door in vain ; 
I have kept my fealty good 
To the human brotherhood. 

J. G. Whittier. 

(166) 



June 15. 



Depart from evil, and do good ; and dwell for 
evermore, — Ps. xxxvii. 27. 

A NOTHER week is ended. Rest from thy la- 
bors ; call home thy wandering thoughts, oh 
my soul ! Review the days that are past. Con- 
sider well how thy duties have been performed, 
and if thy services have been acceptable in the 
sis:ht of God. Hast thou carefully watched over 
and ruled thy conduct and thoughts ? And what 
progress hast thou made in holiness of heart and 
life ? What evil dispositions hast thou subdued ? 
What sinful habits hast thou reformed? What 
virtues hast thou cultivated ? What good hast 
thou conferred on those who could profit from thy 
benefits ? Hast thou daily examined thy mind to 
search out and understand its secret springs of 
action ? 

Swiftly the weeks glide onward, — conscience, say 

What the report thy vanished days proclaim ! 
Hast thou, my soul, been faithful up to lay 

Thy lasting treasures, where no rust, no stain 
Of earth shall mar their beauty ? where the moth 

Destroys not riches stored for heaven ? 
Think, are thy precious hours redeemed from sloth, 

And all to virtuous duty wisely given ? 

Dorothea Dix. 

(167) 



June 16. 



And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, for- 
giving one another, even as God for Christ's sake 
hath forgiven you, — Eph. iv. 32. 

7"HAT is necessary to make one forbearing? 
A great deal of good sense with a little 
piety. How many persons would dare each even- 
ing to say simply to God : " My God. treat me to- 
morrow as I have to-day treated such a person, 
whom I have rudely repulsed, whose faults I have 
brought to light through malice or to parade my 
wit : as I have treated another, to whom, through 
pride, through aversion, through contempt. I have 
refused to speak, whom I have avoided, whom I 
cannot like because she displeased me, whom I 
cannot pardon, and with whom I do not wish to 
exchange any civility.'' And vet do not forget 
that, sooner or later, God will do unto you as you 
do unto others. 

"Golden Sands." 

Back to thyself is measured well 

All thou hast given ; 
Thy neighbor's wrong is thy present hell, 

His bliss thy heaven. 

J. G. Whittier. 

(168) 



June 17. 



Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and 
evening to rejoice. — Ps. lxv. 8. 

"V /TUCH might be said on the wisdom of taking 
a constantly fresh view of life. It is one of 
the moral uses of the night that it gives the world 
anew to us every morning, and of sleep that it 
makes life a daily re-creation. . . . God is thus all 
the while presenting the cup of life afresh to our 
lips. Thus, after a night of peaceful sleep, we 
behold the world as new and fresh and wonderful 
as it was on the first morning of creation, when 
God pronounced it " very good." And sleep it- 
self is a divine alchemy that gives us ourselves 
with our primitive energy of body and mind. 
The davs are not mere repetitions of themselves ; 
to-morrow will have another meaning ; I shall 
come to it with larger vision than I have to-day. 

T. T. Munger. 

Each day the world is born anew 

For him who takes it rightly ; 
Not fresher that which Adam knew, 
Not sweeter that whose moonlight dew 

Entranced Arcadia nightly. 

J. R. Lowell. 

(i6 9 ) 



June 18. 



For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up 
again. — Pro v. xxiv. 16. 



OXSIDER the movement of the tide when it 



is coming in. It is movement upon the 
whole. The water is sure to cover that dry beach 
in two or three hours' time, and to float that 
stranded seaweed ; but it is not a movement 
without relapses. Each wave, I suppose, gains a 
little ground, but each wave falls back as soon as 
it has plashed upon the shore. Even so in the 
Christian life, there may be a forward movement 
on the whole consistently with many relapses, 
though this assertion requires to be guarded by 
the observation that the relapses must be such as 
proceed from infirmity, and not from malice pre- 
pense. 



What though we fall, and bruised and wounded lie, 

Our lips in dust ? 
God's arm shall lift us up to victory: 

In Him we trust. 

For neither life, nor death, nor things below, 

Nor things above, 
Shall ever sever us that we should go 

From His great love. 

Frances Power Cobbe. 




Dean Goulburn. 



(170; 



June 19. 



But he that lacketh these things is blind, and can- 
not see afar off. — n. Peter i. 9. 

*\ T TE may look through a glass at the distant 
heavens, or we may make the glass itself 
the focal point of vision, and so see nothing else. 
Now, the world is such a glass. The devout man 
looks through it and sees God ; the worldly man 
sees only the glass itself. For we have the power 
of fixing the eye of the soul so exclusively upon 
the things seen and temporal that we shall not 
discern anything of the awful eternity behind 
them. This the worldly man does, and so be- 
comes a practical atheist, living without God. He 
does not see God in nature. . . . He sees no God 
in events. . . . He sees no God in his trials or 
blessings. 

J. F. Clarke. 

Teach me, my God and King, 

In all things Thee to see, 
And what I do in anything, 

To do it as for Thee. 

A man that looks on glass 

On it may stay his eye ; 
Or, if he pleases, through it pass, 

And then the heaven espy. 

George Herbert. 



June 20. 



A?id Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in 
their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the 
kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all 
manner of disease among the people. — Matt. 
iv. 23. 

TIE kept daily almost face to face with nature, 
fishing in the lake, roaming through the corn, 
abiding on the hills, sitting in the vineyards, and 
by the well to talk with the passers-by. He kept 
himself daily face to face with mankind ; loving 
children, seeking out the sick and broken-hearted, 
impassioned about their sorrow as if it were his 
own, ready to give sympathy and joy. ... As to 
his religion, it was simpler even than his life. 
Cod is your Father; love Him. Man is your 
brother ; love him. And when you love God and 
man so that you can give your life for both, then 
you will be pure, and true, and honest, and just, 
to each other. Morality will follow love as the 
waves the moon. One thing is needful, He said. 
— It is love. Stopford A. Brooke. 

Follow with reverent steps the great example 
Of Him whose holy work was " doing good "; 

So shall the wide earth seem our Father's temple, 
Each lovirg life a psalm of gratitude. 

J. G. Whittier. 

(172) 



June 21. 

For who hath despised the day of small things ? 
— Zech. iv. 10. 



T REMEMBER having to advise a man who 
had fallen into a sad because a morose life, 
and had put himself under my counsel ; and I 
said, " Suppose you begin by passing the butter 
at table." He needed to be on the outlook, con- 
sciously, for little occasions to serve those around 
him. Take care in the least exercises that you 
care for others. " I do not like the man," said a 
sound observer to me ; " I saw he let his wife 
pick up her own handkerchief." This critic was 
right in that quick judgment. " I judge him by 
the way he treats his dog." That is a wise criti- 
cism. And, if it is wise in criticism, it is wise in 
life. Train yourself to unselfishness in what the 
world pleases to call little things. 

E. E. Hale. 



Let me be slow to do my will, 
Prompt thine to obey ; 

Help me to sacrifice myself, 
Just for to-day. 

(173) 



, June 22. 

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. — Prov. 
xxiii. 7. 

\\ 7"E make for ourselves, in truth, our own 
spiritual world, our own monsters, chime- 
ras, angels, — we make objective what ferments 
in us. All is marvellous for the poet ; all is 
divine for the saint ; all is great for the hero ; all 
is wretched, miserable, ugly, bad for the base and 
sordid soul. The bad man creates around him a 
pandemonium . . . the elect soul a paradise, which 
each of them sees for himself alone. We are all 
visionaries, and what we see is our soul in things. 
We reward ourselves and punish ourselves with- 
out knowing it, so that all appears to change when 
we change. 

Amiel. 

The fairest day that ever vet has shone 

Will be when thou the clay within shalt see ; 
The fairest rose that ever yet has blown, 

When thou the flower thou lookest on shalt be ; 
But thou art far away amidst Time's toys ; 

Thyself the clay thou lookest for in them, 
Thyself the flower that now thine eye enjoys; 

But wilted now thou hang'st upon thy stem. 

Jones Very. 

074) 



June 23. 



Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth 
great things. BehoLL how great a matter a little 
fire kindleth ! — James iii, 5. 



XY anger arise in thy breast, instantly seal up 
thy lips, and let it not go forth : for. like a fire 
when it wants vent, it will suppress itself. It is 
good in a fever to have a tender and smooth 
tongue ; but it is better that it be so in anger : for. 
if it be rough and distempered, there it is an ill 
sign, but here it is an ill cause. Angry passion 
is like a fire, and angry words are like breath to 
fan them ; together thev are like steel and flint, 
sending out lire by mutual collision. 

Jeremy Taylor. 



Be calm in arguing : for fierceness makes 
Error a fault, and truth discourtesy. 

Why should I feel another man's mistakes 
More than his sicknesses or poverty ? 

In love I should : but anger is not love, 

Nor wisdom neither : therefore gently move. 

George Herbert. 

(175) ■ 



June 24. 



For I reckon that the sufferings of this present 
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory 
which shall be revealed in us, — Rom. viii. 18. 

"PARADOXICAL as it may seem, God means 
not only to make us good, but to make us 
also happy, by sickness, disaster, and disappoint- 
ment. For the truly happy man is not made such 
by a pleasant and sunny course only of indulged 
inclinations and gratified hopes ; by a worldly lot, 
containing every desirable circumstance which a 
worldly mind could fix on, with a cup full to run- 
ning: over of all that fond mortals choose and 
strive for. Hard tasks, deferred hopes, though 
they " make the heart sick," the beating of ad- 
verse, or the delay of baffling winds, must enter 
into his composition here below, as they will 
finally enter into his song on high. 

C. A. Bartol. 

I thank Thee too that all our joy 

Is touched with pain ; 
That shadows fall on brightest hours ; 

That thorns remain ; 
So that earth's bliss may be our guide 

And not our chain. 

Adelaide Procter. 

(i 7 6) 



June 25. 



Whither shall I go fro??i thy Spirit ? or whither 
shall I flee from thy presence? — Ps. cxxxix. 7. 



TVTO man can pass into eternity, for he is already 
in it. The dead are no more in eternity now 
than they always were, or than every one of us is 
at this moment. We may ignore the things eter- 
nal ; shut our eyes hard to them ; live as though 
they had no existence, — nevertheless, Eternity is 
around us here, now, at this moment, at all mo- 
ments ; and it will have been around us every 
day of our ignorant, sinful, selfish lives. Its stars 
are ever over our head, while we are so diligent 
in the dust of our worldliness, or in the tainted 
stream of our desires. The dull brute globe 
moves through its ether and knows it not; even 
so our souls are bathed in eternity and are never 
conscious of it. 

Canon Farrar. 



It lies around us like a cloud — 

A world we do not see ; 
Yet the sweet closing of an eye 

May bring us there to be. 

H. B. Stowe. 

077) 



June 26. 



Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the 
law : for sin is the transgression of the law. — 
i. John iii. 4. 

T INTO Moses the veil of the senses, of appear- 



w ances, was lifted : he too looked through the 
show of things, and saw that, behind the outward, 
which makes the outward what it is. To his ear- 
nest and manly soul was revealed the truth that 
man is not free, but bound ; that he cannot do as 
he would, but as he must ; that he is not free to 
do wrong, but bound to right by a triple chain of 
pain and fear : he saw and felt the presence of 
penalty : that God had attached pain to certain 
courses of action, and pleasure to other and quite 
opposite courses ; and that this was la7&, from 
which man could not get away : that fire would 
burn and water drown, that sin would bring evil 
and remorse, and, let a man try as hard as he 
might, he could not make it so that fire would not 
burn, nor water drown, nor intemperance of the 
body destroy the soul : he stood awed before the 
majesty of Law. And how great was that reve- 
lation ! Eliza T. Clapp. 

Let none who suffers wrong despair, 
The God of justice hears his prayer; 
Let none dare break His statutes pure, 
God's justice, though it wait, is sure. 




(178) 



June 27. 



Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his good- 
ness, and for his wo?iderful works to the children of 
men! — Ps. cvii. 21. 



T^EW of us indeed realize the wonderful privi- 
-lege of living; the blessings we inherit, the 
glories and beauties of the Universe, which is our 
own if we choose to have it so ; the extent to 
which we can make ourselves what we wish to be ; 
or the power we possess of securing peace, of 
triumphing over pain and sorrow. 

Sir John Lubbock. 



How beautiful it is to be alive ! 
To wake each morn as if the Maker's grace 
Did us afresh from nothingness derive, 
That we might sing, How happy is our case, 

How beautiful it is to be alive ! 

• • • • - « 

Thus ever, towards Man's height of nobleness 
Striving some new progression to contrive ; 
Till, just as any other friend's, we press 
Death's hand ; and having died feel none the less, 
How beautiful it is to be alive ! 

H. S. Sutton. 

079) 



June 28. 

Quit you like men, be strong. — i. Cor. xvi. 13. 



A/TIRABEAU said, "Why should we feel our- 
selves to be men, unless it be to succeed in 
everything, everywhere." You must say of noth- 
ing, That is beneath me, nor feel that anything 
can be out of your power. Nothing is impossible 
to the man who can will. Is that necessary ? 
That shall be : this is the only law of success. 

Emerson. 

My friends, you may be whatever you resolve 
to be, . . . Aim at excellence, and excellence 
will be attained. This is the great secret of effort 
and eminence. I cannot do it, never accomplished 
anything ; I will try, has wrought wonders. 

Joel Hawes. 

'Tis not for man to trifle ! Life is brief, 

And sin is here. 
Our age is but the falling of a leaf, 

A dropping tear. 
We have no time to sport away the hours, 
All must be earnest in a world like ours. 

Bonar. 

(180) 



June 29. 



I seek not mine own will, but the will of the 
Father which hath sent me. — John v. 30. 

T THINK we often quite misconceive the genu- 
ine appointed occupation of a given moment, 
perhaps even of our whole lives. We take for 
granted that we ought to enjoy a pleasure, or com- 
plete a task, or execute a work, or serve some one 
we love : while what we are really then and there 
called to is to forego a pleasure, or break off a 
task, or leave a cherished work incomplete, or 
serve some one we find it difficult to love. Inter- 
ruptions seem well-nigh to form the occupation of 
some lives. 

Christina G. Rossetti. 

As a general thing it may be expected that all 
Christians will find themselves able to bear the 
Great Crosses of life, because thev come with ob- 
servation ; they attract notice by their very mag- 
nitude ; and by putting the soul on its guard give 
it strength to meet them. But happy, thrice hap- 
py is he, who can bear the Little Crosses, which 
ever lie in wait, and which attack us secretly, and 
without giving warning, like a thief in the night. 

T. C. Upham. 

(181) * 



June 30. 



Moreover, it is required in stewards, that a 7nan 
be found faithful. — i. Cor. iv. 2. 

/CHARACTER is made up of small duties faith- 
fully performed, — of self-denials, of self- 
sacrifices, of kindly acts of love and duty. The 
backbone of character is laid at home ; and 
whether the constitutional tendencies be good or 
bad, home influences will, as a rule, fan them into 
activity. . . . Kindness begets kindness, and 
truth and trust will bear a rich harvest of truth 
and trust. There are many little trivial acts of 
kindness which teach us more about a man's 
character than many vague phrases. 

S. Smiles. 

Give us a character on which we can thoroughly 
depend, which we are sure will not fail us in time 
of need, which we know to be based on principle 
and on the fear of God, and it is wonderful how 
many brilliant and popular qualities we can safely 
. . . dispense with. 

Dean Stanley. 

Rugged strength and radiant beauty — 

These were one in nature's plan ; 
Humble toil and heavenward duty — 

These will form the perfect man. 

Sarah J. Hale. 

(182) 



July 1. 



Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man 
truth with his neighbor. — Eph. iv. 25, 

T WOULD not favor a fiction to keep a world 
out of hell. The hell that a lie would keep 
any man out of is doubtless the very best place 
for him to go. It is truth, yes, The Truth, that 
saves the world. George MacDonald. 

Falsehood is so easy, truth so difficult. . . . 
Examine vour words well and you will find that, 
even when you have no motive to be false, it is 
very hard to say the exact truth, even about your 
own feelings — much harder than to say some- 
thing fine about them which is not the exact truth. 

George Eliot. 

Sin has many tools, but a lie is a handle that 
fits them all. O. W. Holmes. 

The first of all Gospels is this, That a lie can- 
not endure forever. Carxyle. 

Lie not ; but let thy heart be true to God, 
Thy mouth to it, thy actions to them both : 

Cowards tell lies, and those that fear the rod ; 
The stormy working soul spits lies and froth. 

Dare to be true. Nothing can need a lie : 

A fault, which needs it most, grows two thereby. 

George Herbert. 

(183) 



July 2. 



And there came a certain poor widow, and she 
threiv in two mites, which make a farthi7ig. — Mark 
xii. 42. 

T ^7AIT not for extraordinary occasions. The 
present moment, and the mite you can con- 
tribute as it passes, are your all. For, rightly 
viewed, what is the present moment but the index 
on the dial-plate, forever moving till it makes up 
your whole life ? And what is the mite you now 
contribute but that exertion of your whole 
strength to meet the present demand, without 
which, in the longest life, nothing is accom- 
plished ? The whole of religion, then, is com- 
prised in one simple direction : Do all you can 
from a pure motive now. Thus, small as your 
actions may appear to men, like the widow's mites 
they will be great in the eye of Heaven ; and, 
though they attract not the admiration of the 
world, they will secure your eternal peace. 

C. A. Bartol. 

Yet do thy work ; it shall succeed 
In thine or in another's day, 
- And if denied the victor's meed 

Thou shalt not lack the toiler's pay. 

J. G. W hither. 

(184) 



July 3. 



A good mci7i out of the good treasure of his heart 
bringeth forth that which is good. — Luke vi. 45. 

9 I A HE highest religious state is when we act 
rightly, as the bird sings ; when we are pure, 
generous, self-forgetting, from the action of the 
same energetic impulse that the flower is streaked, 
colored, and fringed ; when the outward life flows 
from the inward life as the stream from the foun- 
tain, as light from its source. We know that ac- 
tions are not virtue, that even virtuous actions are 
not virtue : thev are the blossomings of virtue, 
the putting forth of the energy of the soul, in ac- 
cordance with its law, which is virtue. 

Eliza T. Clapp. 

Saints are like roses when they flush rarest, 
Saints are like lilies when they bloom fairest, 
Saints are like violets sweetest of their kind. 

Bear in mind 
This to-day. Then to-morrow : — 

All like roses rarer than the rarest, 
All like lilies fairer than the fairest, 
All like violets sweeter than we know. 

Be it so, 
To-morrow blots out sorrow. 

Christina G. Rossetti. 



July 4. 



He that is faithful in that which is least is faith- 
ful also in much, — Luke xvi. 10. 



OPPORTUNITIES for doing greatly seldom 
occur; life is made up of infinitesimals. If 
you compute the happiness in any given day, you 
will find that it was composed of small attentions, 
kind looks, which made the heart swell, and stirred 
into health that sour, rancid film of misanthropy 
which is apt to coagulate on the stream of our 
inward life, as surely as we live in heart apart 
from our fellow-creatures. . . . And remark, too, 
these trifles prepared for larger deeds. The one 
who will be found in trial capable of great acts of 
love, is ever the one who is doing considerate 
small ones. 

F. W. Robertson. 



One by one thy duties wait thee, 
Let thy whole strength go to each ; 

Let no future dreams elate thee ; 

Learn thou first what those can teach. 

Adelaide Procter. 

(1S6) 



July 5. 



For 7t>e know that, if our earthly house of this 
tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, 
a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 
— ii. Cor. v. i. 

/"~~\NE of the most convincing arguments for 



immortality is the undying appetite of the 
soul for knowledge, love, progress. As we ap- 
proach the turn of life it never occurs to us that 
it is time to fold our arms, close our eyes, and 
bid farewell to nature, poetry, art, friendship, 
business. . . . We build houses, begin books, un- 
dertake operations, just as if we were to live for- 
ever, which shows, I think, that the sense of 
immortality destroys all sense of death as w r e 
grow old. J. F. Clarke, 

"To me," said Goethe, " the eternal existence of 
my soul is proved from my idea of activity. If I 
work incessantly till my death, nature is bound to 
give me another form of existence when the 
present can no longer sustain my spirit." 




So much to do, so little done ! 
The toil is past, the rest begun; 
Though little done, and much to do, 
To-morrow earth and heaven are new. 



J. J. Piatt. 



(is?) 



July 6. 



For he that will love life and see good days, let 
him refrain his tongue froi?i evil, and his lips that 



HTH respect to the blessings which good 



temper sheds around it. it is almost impos- 
sible to speak too highly. It may be a common- 
place thing to say. but it has the charming truth- 
fulness of commonplace to say that more than 
half the difficulties of the world would be allayed 
or removed by the exhibition of good temper. . . . 
Temper is not only, as the good bishop said, 
" nine-tenths of Christianity,' 5 but it constitutes 
nine-tenths of secular success, as well as of relig- 
ious life. Sir Arthur Helps. 

Manv of us know how. even in our childhood, 
some blank, discontented face on the background 
of our home has marred our summer mornings. 
Why was it, when the birds were singing, when 
the fields were a garden, . . . there was some- 
body who found it hard to smile ? 



They who know not how to act agreeably, 
though they have learnt many things, are still 



they speak no guile. 



i. Peter iii. 10. 




George Eliot. 



ignorant. 



C URAL. 



(iSS) 



July 7. 



And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works 
of darkness, but rather reprove them. — Eph. v. ii. 

/^ONSENT hearteneth sin, which a little dis- 
like would have daunted at first. As we 
say, "There would be no thieves, if no receivers " ; 
so would there not be so many open mouths to 
detract and slander, if there were not so many 
open ears to entertain them. If I cannot stop 
other men's mouths from speaking ill, I will either 
open my mouth to reprove it, or else I will stop 
mine ears from hearing it ; and let him see in my 
face that he hath no room in my heart. 

Bishop Hall. 

He who keeps his ear open to calumny and 
backbiting may reasonably expect to have it 
filled. The best way, both for our own sakes and 
that of others, is to keep it shut ; to hear but lit- 
tle, and to pray the more. 

T. C. Upham. 

They are slaves who will not choose 

Hatred, scoffing, and abuse 

Rather than in silence shrink, 

From the truth they needs must think, — 

They are slaves who will not dare, 

All wrongs to right, all rights to share. 

J. R. Lowell. 

(i8 9 ) 



July 8. 

My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; 
in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, 
and will look up. — Ps. v. 3. 

T3 E now faithful to thyself, my soul ; so shalt 
thou leave thy retirement, and enter on this 
day's work, fortified to withstand temptation, to 
sustain care, to meet trials, to do thy duty to thy 
Maker, to thy fellow-beings, and to thyself. 
Take strict heed to thy ways ; set a watch over 
thy actions ; and govern the thoughts of thy 
heart. Let thy tongue utter the words of truth 
and soberness ; let thy lips speak no ill of their 
neighbor. Be more ready to forgive injuries than 
to resent offences ; thv own mind will reward 
thee, — for thou shalt greatly increase in joy and 
peace. Dorothea Dix. 

Lord ! I ray vows to Thee renew ; 
Scatter my sins like morning dew ; 
Guard my first springs of thought and will, 
And with Thyself my spirit fill. 

Direct, control, suggest, this day, 

All I design, or do, or say; 

That all my powers, with all their might, 

In Thy sole glory may unite, 

Bishop Ken. 

(190) 



July 9. 



Having a form of godliness, but denying the power 
thereof. — n. Tim. iii. 5. 

COME of life's relations are pervaded with the 
- love of God ; others have not been thrilled 
with it at all. I may be a good neighbor, but not 
faithful to Christ's Church and cause. Many 
persons do well enough in their town and neigh- 
borhood, who never do aught for the cause of 
Christianity, which alone makes a neighborhood 
fit to live in. I may be zealous for religion, but 
not for humanity, or I may be sunny and sweet as 
summer to personal friends, but to nobody else. 
I may be a good Christian sometimes, and then 
relapse into heathenism, and so my Christian life 
be fragmentary and incomplete. Only when our 
sun of righteousness rises toward high noon does 
every province of life and duty become warm 
with it, and the summer green pervade the by- 
places where the frosts and the shadows had kept 
before. 

E. H. Sears. 

O Lord, thy heavenly grace impart, 
And fix my frail, inconstant heart ; 
Henceforth my chief desire shall be, 
To dedicate myself to thee. 

J. F. Oberlin. 

' fa) 



July 10 



Beware lest ye also, being led away with the error 
of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. — 
ii. Peter iii. 17. 

'THE highest achievement of charity is to love 
our enemies ; but to bear cheerfully with our 
neighbor's failings is scarcely an inferior grace. 
It is easy enough to love those who are agreeable 
and obliging — what fly is not attracted by sugar 
and honey ? but to love one who is cross, per- 
verse, tiresome, is as unpleasant a process as 
chewing pills. Nevertheless, this is the real 
touchstone of brotherly love. The best way of 
piactising it is to put ourselves in the place of him 
who tries us, and to see how we would wish him 
to treat us if we had his defects. We must put 
ourselves in the place of buyer when we sell, and 
seller when we buy, if we want to deal fairly. 

Francis de Sales. 

We would willingly have others perfect and yet 

we amend not our own faults. . . . And thus it 

appeareth how seldom we weigh our neighbor in 

the same balance with ourselves. 

Thomas a Kempis. 

(192) 



July 11. 



The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso 
p-utteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. — Prov. 
xxix. 25. 

A GREAT deal of discomfort arises from over- 
sensitiveness about what people may say of 
you or your actions. Many unhappy persons 
seem to imagine that they are always in an am- 
phitheatre, with the assembled world as specta- 
tors ; whereas they are playing to empty boxes all 
the while. W. Rathbone, Jr. 

Why should you suspect evil intentions against 

you ? Do you not know the thought disturbs you, 

and creates an evil disposition ? 

" Golden Sands." 

If thou considerest what thou art in thyself 
thou wilt not care what men say of thee. 

Thomas a Kempis. 



Everything is only for a day, both that which 

remembered. 

Marcus Aurelius. 



remembers, and that which is remembered. 



Weakness is wretchedness ! To be strong 

Is to be happy ! I am weak 

And cannot find the good I seek, 
Because I feel and fear the wrong ! 

Longfellow. 

(*93) 



July 12. 



Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits 
whether they are of God. — i. John iv. i. 



HILST we love the s;ood, the fair, the true 



our love is divine, because the soul is good- 
ness, truth, beauty ; but when we love the false, 
the evil, and call them good and fair, then is our 
love unnatural and wrong : the an°:el seeks alii- 
ance with the reptile. It is terrible to love what 
we should hate, and we do this oftener perhaps 
than we think. We love hollo wn ess and error, 
when they are tinged with grace or glitter of any 
kind : we cherish selfishness, because it opens to 
us a path to preeminence : we make a covenant 
with falsehood, because it brings us to favor : we 
take the serpent to our bosom because of the 
beauty of his stripes ; if the soul is given over to 
unlawful passion, the abdication of its nature, 
and thus exiled, do we expect to know the power 
or exercise the authority of the sonship ? Intel- 
lect and heart, the whole being suffers when love 
is impure. 



Nothing so defileth and entangleth the heart of 
man as the impure love of things created. 

Thomas a Kempis. 




Eliza T. Clapp. 



(194) 



July 13. 



Let no man seek his own, but every man another s 
wealth. — i. Cor. x. 24. 

A S one looks round upon the community to- 
day. how clear the problem of hundreds of 
unhappy lives appears. Do we not all know men 
for whom it is just as clear as daylight that that 
is what they need, the sacrifice of themselves for 
other people ? Rich men who with all their 
wealth are weary and wretched ; learned men 
whose learning only makes them querulous and 
jealous ; believing men whose faith is always 
souring; into bi^otrv and envv, — everv man knows 
what these men need: just something which 
shall make them let themselves go out into the 
open ocean of a complete self-sacrifice. They 
are rubbing and fretting; and charms themselves 
against the wooden wharves of their own interests, 
to which they are tied. Phillips Brooks. 

The secret of life, — it is giving ; 
To minister and to serve; 
Love's law binds the man to the angel, 
And ruin befalls if we swerve. 
There are breadths of celestial horizon 
Overhanging the commonest way ; 
The clod and the star share the glory, 
And to breathe is an ecstasy. 

Lucv Larcom. 

(195) 



July 14. 



For even Christ pleased not himself. — Rom. 
xv. 3. 

INTERRUPTIONS are vexatious. Granted. 

But what is an interruption ? An interruption 
is something, is anything, which breaks^ in upon 
our occupation of the moment. For instance : a 
frivolous remark when we are absorbed, a selfish 
call when we are busy, an idle noise out of time, 
an intrusive sight out of place. Now, our occu- 
pations spring? — from within : for they are the 
outcome of our own will. And interruptions ar- 
rive ? — from without. Obviouslv from without, 
or otherwise we could and would ward them off. 
Our occupation, then, is that which we select. 
Our interruption is that which is sent us. But 
hence it would appear that the occupation may be 
wilful, while the interruption must be Providential. 
A startling view of occupations and interruptions. 

Christina G. Rossetti. 

I would have gone ; God bade me stay. 

I would have worked ; God made me rest 
He broke my will from day to day ; 

He read my yearnings unexpressed, 
And said them nay. 

Christina G. Rossetti. 

(196) 



July 15 



Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith 
ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the 
wicked. — Eph. vi. 16, 

HPHE man whose first question, after a right 
^ course of action has presented itself, is, 
" What will people say ? " is not the man to do 
anything at all. But if he asks, " Is it my duty ? " 
he can then proceed in his moral panoply, and be 
ready to incur men's censure, and even brave 
their ridicule. " Let us have faith in fine ac- 
tions," says M. de la Cretelle, " and let us reserve 
doubt and incredulity for bad." 

S. Smiles. 

We cannot improve ourselves, we cannot assist 
others, we cannot do our duty in the world, except 
by exertion, except by unpopularity, except with 
annoyance, except with care and difficulty. We 
must each of us bear our cross with Him. When 
we bear it, each day makes it easier to bear. 

Dean Stanley. 

Put thou thy trust in God, 

In duty's path go on ; 

Fix on His Word thy steadfast eye, 

So shall thy work be done, 

Luther. 

097) 



July 16. 



Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with 
them ; and them that suffer adversity, as being your* 
selves also in the body. — Heb. xiii. 3. 

r I 'HE whole need not a physician. . . . But 
these poverty-stricken ones : the children 
that grow pale in tenement houses ; the victims 
of drink ; the women driven to vice by the 
cruelty of rapacious employers ; the multitudes 
who toil on railways, stripped bare of the saving 
ties of home and social life ; the churchless 
masses in the West, the unchurched masses in 
the East ; the illiterate of all sections ; the sin- 
ners, the touch of whose garments we shun as we 
walk the streets, — these are the lost sheep that 
we are to seek. 

T. T. Hunger. 

He's true to God who's true to man ; wherever wrong is 
done, 

To the humblest and the weakest, 'neath the all-beholding 
sun, 

That wrong is also done to us ; and they are slaves most 
base, 

Whose love of right is for themselves, and not for all their 
race. 

J. R. Lowell. 

(198) 



July 17. 



But as God hath distributed to every man, as the 
Lord hath called every o?ie, so let him walk. — 
i. Cor. vii. 17. 

TT is good to take up and bear the cross, what- 
ever it may be, which God sees fit to impose, 
but it is not good and not safe to make crosses 
of our own; and, by an act of our own choosing, 
to impose upon ourselves burdens which God 
does not require, and does not authorize. Such 
a course always implies either a faith too weak, or 
a will too strong. 

T. C. Upham. 

Allow for others — claim for yourself — a di- 
vision of labor, a division of responsibility. A 
good master, a good servant, a good soldier, a 
good teacher, is made in no other way so well as 
by knowing what is his place, and keeping to 
that ; not doing anything above his place, or be- 
low his place, or out of his place. 

Dean Stanley. 

Ye servants of the Lord, 

Each in your office wait. 
Observant of His heavenly word, 

And watchful at His gate. 

Doddridge. 

099) 



July 18. 



Why doth thine heart carry thee away? — Job 

XV. 12. 

"OUT is solitude less dangerous in our spiritual 
warfare than company ? . . . Self is with us, 
and the Devil may be with us too, in the closet, 
as well as in the social gathering. Castle-build- 
ing, with all its odious train of self-flatteries, and 
self-complacencies ; the fretting over any little 
wound which our vanity may have received, until 
it begins to fester and look serious ; the mental 
aggravation of a slight or insult, by allowing the 
thoughts to dwell on it until it fills the field of 
view in a manner perfectly absurd ; the discom- 
posure about worldly cares which is always in- 
creased by solitary pondering of them; ... all 
these, together with many coarser and baser 
thoughts which I need not mention, are the 
temptations of solitude ; and the moment we pass 
out of the sight and hearing: of men, we enter in- 
to this new circle of snares. 

Dean Goulburn. 

Thou tread'st upon enchanted ground ! 
Perils and snares beset thee round ; 
Beware of all, guard every part, 
But most the traitor in thy heart. 

Anna L^etitia Barbauld. 

(200) 



July 19. 

For we are laborers together with God. — i. Cor. 
iii. 9. 

A XD so, even when a new-born church is form- 
in£ itself, while it is throwing down its roots 
and getting strength, every genuine man and 
woman in it, who is in earnest about it, ought to 
be asking, " What can we do to bring God's rule 
to this town ? " — " Whose fault was it, for instance, 
that those children died of cholera infantum last 
nisrht in Swett Street ? " — " What could have been 

o 

done to prevent that drunken fight at the corner 
grocery?" — " Could we have done nothing to 
rescue that poor factory girl who committed sui- 
cide vesterdav ? " What could we do, what could 
j j 7 

this church do, in such instances as this, where 
the devil seems to have succeeded, so that in his 
place the God of Love might reign ? 

E. E. Hale. 

Jesus, Master, whom I serve, 

Though so feebly and so ill, 
Strengthen hand, and heart, and nerve, 

All thy bidding to fulfil ; 
Open Thou mine eves to see 
All the work Thou hast for me. 

Frances R. Havergal. 

(201) 



July 20. 



The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord ; 
and he delighteth in his way. — Ps. xxxvii. 23. 

A XD so, as you pass on stage by stage in your 
courses of experience, it is made clear to 
you that, whatsoever you have laid upon you 
to do, or to suffer, whatever to want, whatever to 
surrender or to conquer, is exactly best for you. 
Your life is a school exactly adapted to your les- 
son, and that to the best, last end of your exist- 
ence. H. BUSHNELL. 



The great temptation to w T hich we are more or 
less exposed is that of losing sight of God in the 
ordinary actions of the day. It is hard to feel 
that every action of every clay is capable of being 
so clone as to advance or hinder our growth in 
grace. " Golden Sands." 

Choose Thou for me my friends, 

My sickness or my health ; 
Choose Thou my cares for me, 

My poverty or wealth. 

Not mine, not mine the choice, 

In things or great or small ; 
Be Thou my guide, my strength, 

My wisdom, and my all. 



BONAR. 



(202) 



July 21. 



For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy 
work : I will triumph in the works of thy hands. 
— Ps. xcii. 4. 

HHHERE is for every one a festive converse 
with the silent eloquence of this mysterious 
universe. There is a joyous suggestion in sky 
and air. For the exiled and outcast there is a 
benediction in the calmness of morning and 
evening twilight. Every landscape over plain 
and mountain is an everlasting possession to the 
eye purged from covetousness. 

P. C. Mozoomdar. 

Nature never did betray 
The heart that loved her ; 'tis her privilege, 
Through all the years of this our life, to lead 
From joy to joy : for she can so inform 
The mind that is within us, so impress 
With quietness and beauty, and so feed 
With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues, 
Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men, 
Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all 
. The dreary intercourse of daily life, 
Shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb 
Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold 
Is full of blessings. 

Wordsworth. 

(203) 



July 22. 

The sting of death is sin. — i. Cor. xv. 56. 

"pvEATH ! Silence ! Eternity! What mys- 
teries, what names of terror to the being: 
who longs for happiness, immortality, perfection ! 
Where shall I be tc-morrow — in a little while — 
when the breath of life has forsaken me ? Where 
will those be whom T love ? Whither are we all 
going ? The eternal problems rise before us in 
their implacable solemnity. Mystery on all 
sides ! And faith the onlv star in this darkness 
and uncertainty! No matter ! — so long as the 
world is the work of eternal goodness, and so 
long: as conscience has not deceived us. — To 
give happiness and to do good, there is our only 
law, our anchor of salvation, our beacon light, our 
reason for existing. All religions may crumble 
away ; so long as this survives we have still an 
ideal, and life is worth living. 

Amiel. 

I am drifting away to some other shore, 

I know not where it may be ; 
But, Spirit of Love, wherever I go, 

My soul will abide in Thee. 

Beatrice West. 

(204) 



July 23. 



If thou k?t , west the gift of God, and who it is 
that saith to thee, Give me to drink ; thou wo u Ides t 
have asked of him, and he would have given thee 
living water. — ■ John iv. 10. 



/OPPORTUNITIES, our opportunities of giv- 
in£ or receiving somewhat ! if we only knew 
them when they are present, and did not so often 
have to say, Alas, I knew not that that hour, that 
occasion, that meeting with or missing of a friend, 
was a gift of God, and so I let it pass, and lost 
the living water it offered. 

Eliza T. Clapp. 



It isn't the thing you do, 

It's the thing you leave undone, 
Which gives you a bit of a heartache 

At the setting of the sun. 
• • . • 

The stone you might have lifted 

Out of a brother's way, 
The bit of heartsome counsel 

You were hurried too much to say, 
The loving touch of the hand, 

The gentle and winsome tone,. 
That you had no time nor thought for, 

With troubles enough of your own. 

( 20 5) 



July 24. 



For the wrath of man worketh not the righteous- 
ness of God. — James i. 20. 

TT was not through the anger, but the love of 
God, that the world was redeemed ; it is " not 
the wrath of man," but the love of man, that most 
fully works out in the w r orld the righteousness of 
God. Meet harshness by kindness, meet unclean- 
ness by purity, meet craft and suspicion by 
straightforward honesty, meet intolerance and 
prejudice by toleration and forbearance. The 
contest may seem unequal at first, but in the end 
we shall conquer. Great is truth, great is good- 
ness, and at the last truth and goodness will pre- 
vail. ■ Dean Stanley. 

To be angry about trifles is mean and childish ; 
to rage and be furious is brutish ; and to main- 
tain perpetual wrath is akin to the practice and 
temper of devils ; but to prevent and suppress 
rising resentment is wise and glorious, is manly 
and divine. Watts. 

O love divine, that claspest our tired earth, 

And lullest it upon thy heart, 
Thou knowest how much a gentle soul is worth, 

To teach men what thou art ! 

J. R. Lowell. 

(206) 



July 25. 



For we have not a high priest which cannot be 
touched with the feeling of our infirmities. — Heb. 
iv. 15. 

TT may cost you twenty times the effort and 
strain to take Worrv ri^htlv, as from Christ's 
hand, that it costs your next neighbor. And the 
upshot of all the strain and effort may be* some- 
thing very poor. You carry a drag-weight, which 
holds you back in running the race that is set be- 
fore us, and nobody sees it. You know it, bit- 
terlv, yourself : but you sometimes think nobodv 
else knows. Ay, and more trying still. It may 
be that such as see that you are indeed fighting; 
the good fight at sad disadvantage, instead of be- 
ing sorry for you, are angry with you. . . . Just 
a cheering word. " He knoweth our frame." Who 
gave it us. For we have not a high priest who 
cannot be touched with the feelino* of our in- 

o 

firmities. A. H. K. Boyd. 

Discouraged in the work of life, 

Disheartened by its load, 

Shamed by its failures or its fears, 

I sink beside the road ; 

But let me onlv think of Thee, 

And then new heart springs up in me. 

S. Longfellow. 

(207) 



July 26. 



Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect 
unto all thy commandments. — Ps. cxix. 6. 

n^HE sphere of Duty is infinite. It exists in 
every station of life. We have it not in our 
choice to be rich or poor, to be happy or un- 
happy ; but it becomes us to do the duty that 
everywhere surrounds us. Obedience to duty, at 
all costs and risks, is the very essence of the 
highest civilized life. Great deeds must be 
worked for, hoped for, died for, now as in the 
past. 

S. Smiles. 

Let it make no difference to thee whether thou 
art cold or warm, if thou art doing: thv dutv ; and 
whether thou art drowsy or satisfied with sleep ; 
and whether ill spoken of or praised ; and whether 
dying or doing something else. 

Marcus Aurelius. 



Well for him who, all things losing, 
E'en himself doth count as naught, 

Still the one thing needful choosing 
That with all true bliss is fraught. 

(208) 



July 27. 



We can do nothing against the truth, but for the 
truth. — ii. Cor. xiii. 8. 



ROM genius, as well as revelation, we learn 



that our actions can alone become harmonious 
with the universality and naturalness which we 
see in the outward world when they are made to 
accord with the will of our Father. From both 
we learn that of ourselves we can do no positive 
act ; but have only the power given us to render 
of no avail that which is so — that we cannot 
make one hair white or black ; that our seeming 
strength is weakness — nay, worse than weakness 
- — unless it cooperates with God's. 

Jones Very, 

Let us always ask about this or that opinion, 
not, " Is it safe ? " " Is it useful ? " " Is it agree- 
able ? " but, " Is it true ? " Let us remember, 
with the apostle, that, if we wished ever so much, 
we can do nothing against the truth. Truth is 
great, and truth will prevail. Dean Stanley. 




It fortifies my soul to know 
That, though I perish, truth is so : 
That, howsoe'er I stray and range, 
Whate'er I do, Thou dost not change. 
I steadier step when I recall 
That, if I slip, Thou dost not fall. 



Arthur Hugh Clough. 



(209) 



July 28. 

Be not afraid, but speak, an J hold not thy peace : 
For I am with thee, and no man shall set 011 thee to 
hurt thee. — Acts xviii. 9. 10. 



/^OWARDICE we call the most contemptible 
of vices. It is the one whose imputation we 
most indignantly resent. To be called a coward 
would make the blood boil in the veins of any of 
us. But the vice is wonderfully common. Nay, 
we often find ourselves wondering whether it is 
not universal, whether we are not all cowards 
somewhere in our nature. Physical cowardice all 
of us do not have. Indeed, physical cowardice 
is rarer than we think. . . . But moral courage is 
another thing. To dare to do just what we know 
we ought to do, without being in the least hin- 
dered or distorted by the presence of men who we 
know will either hate or despise or ridicule us for 
what we are doing, that is rare indeed. Men 
think they have it till their test comes. Why, 
there is in this community to-dav an amount of 
ria'ht conviction which, if it were set free into 
right action by complete release from moral cow- 
ardice, would be felt through the land. 

Phillips Brooks. 

(210) 



July 29. 



Be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, 
without spot, and blameless. — n. Peter iii. 14. 

T3E always displeased with what thou art if thou 
desirest to attain to what thou art not ; for 
where thou hast pleased thyself there thou abidest. 
But if thou sayest, I have enough, thou perishest. 
Always add, always walk, always proceed. 
Neither stand still, nor go back, nor deviate. 

St. Augustine. 

It is impossible to remain long stationary. He 
who does not win loses ; he who does not rise 
higher upon the ladder must go down ; he who is 
not a conqueror must be conquered in this strug- 
gle. We are surrounded by foes, and unless we 
fight we must perish. But if we fight we are sure 
to succeed, and if we succeed we must win a 
glorious victory, and receive our crown of 
triumph. 

Francis de Sales. 

All before us lies the way, 
Give the past unto the wind ; 

All before us is the day, 

Night and darkness are behind. 

Emerson. 

(211; 



July 30. 



We, theii, that are strong ought to bear the infirmi- 
ties of the weak, and not to please ourselves. — 
Rom. xv. i. 

T^OR we are made for cooperation, like feet 
like hands, like eyelids, like rows of upper 
and under teeth. To act against one another, 
then, is contrary to nature ; and it is acting 
against one another to be vexed and to turn away. 

Marcus Aurelius. 

What do we live for if not to make life less 
difficult to each other ? 

George Eliot. 

If there be some weaker one, 
Give me strength to help him on : 
If a blinder soul there be, 
Let me guide him nearer Thee. 
Make my mortal dreams come true 
With the work I fain would do; 
Clothe with life the weak intent, 
Let me be the thing I meant : 
Let me find in Thy employ 
Peace, that dearer is than joy ; 
Out of self to love be led 
And to heaven acclimated, 
Until all things sweet and good 
Seem my natural habitude. 

J. G. Whittier. 

(212) 



July 31. 

He shall drink of the brook in the way : therefoi'e 
shad he lift up the head. — Ps. ex. 7. 

/^OD is persistent : and it is often through nat- 
ure that He does His work. Her mighty 
quiet rebukes our fevered life, her obedience to 
law our vain anger against difficulty, her earnest- 
ness our frivolity : and, being with her in a soli- 
tary hour, when the pressure of the outward hu- 
man world is relaxed, we are hushed and ashamed, 
or, as sometimes happens, carried beyond our- 
selves into a thrilling and sacred joy in which 
self and life's petty business are forgotten in the 
impression of an eternal - peace. 

Stopford A. Brooke. 

" O dreary life," we cry, " O dreary life ! " 

And still the generations of the birds 

Sing through our sighing, and the flocks and herds 

Serenely' live while we are keeping strife 

With Heaven's true purpose in us, as a knife 

Against which we may struggle ! . . . 

O thou God of old, 
Grant me some smaller grace than comes to these ! — ■ 
But so much patience as a blade of grass 
Grows by, contented through the heat and cold. 

E. B. Browning. 

( 2I 3) 



Augnst 1. 



Wherefore doth a living ma?i complai?i, a man for 
the pu?iishme?it of his sins ? — Lam. iii. 39. 

T^VEN punitive sorrow, punishment, has a 
beauty about it which men are not slow to 
feel. When a man has been sinning and sinning 
on, and when at last an exposure and pain come, 
and then by the shame and purification of that 
suffering another life begins, is there anything 
more beautiful than that pain standing there " in 
his place " between the old life and the new. be- 
tween the sin and the restoral ? It is beautiful 
with reference to the past. It satisfies man's feel- 
ing about the necessary consequence of sin, and 
it is beautiful with reference to the future. It 
clears the field for the new things that are to 
come. 

Phillips Brooks. 

Let us use our past mistakes and failures as 
building material for future success. 

Hold thee still 
Though the good Physician's knife 
Seem to touch thy very life. 
Death alone he means to kill, 

Hold thee still. 

(2x4) 



August 2. 



Thou k?iowest my downsitting and mine uprising. 
— Ps. cxxxix. 2. 



OR life to cease to be poor and common- 



place, and become intrinsically rich and won- 
derful, we must realize that if it is, as a whole, a 
gift of God, then all its parts must so be ; if rela- 
tion to parents, friends, society, is of divine ap- 
pointment, then everything flowing out of this re- 
lation, intercourse and influence, meetings in the 
house, in the neighborhood, in the street, the 
private room and social gathering, our book and 
work-basket, are of divine appointment. How 
grand and mystic, then, is this everyday life ; it 
is inlaid with divinity, as black oak inlaid with 
gold ; and David utters a literal fact when he 
speaks of his downsitting and uprising as encom- 
passed by God. 




Eliza T. Clapp. 



Lord, our times are in Thy hand ; 
All our sanguine hopes have planned 
To Thy wisdom we resign, 
And would mould our wills to Thine. 




August 3. 



Take, therefore, no thought for the morrow ; for 
the morro7v shall take thought for the things of it- 
self — Matt, vi 34. 

"HPAKE no thought for the morrow," means a 
cultivation of faith and trust in the wisdom 
and power of God, which a constant fear and 
anxiety, and their corresponding language, con- 
tradicts. . . . Stop saying, "I am afraid," about 
anything. Say, " I hope." Take a mental posi- 
tion toward what you desire, instead of what you 
do not desire, and employ the language of Hope 
and not of Fear. This will stimulate your 
thought, and vivify your body. 

Ellen H. Sheldon. 

It is not work that kills men, it is worry. Work 
is healthy ; you can hardly put more upon a man 
than he can bear. Worry is the rust upon the 
blade. It is not the revolution that destroys the 
machinery, but the friction. H. w. Beecher. 

Why shouldst thou fill to-day with sorrow 
About to-morrow, 

My heart ? 
One watches all with care most true, 
Doubt not that He will give thee too 

Thy part. 

Paul Flemming. 

(216) 



August 4. 



For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, 
saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to 
give you an expected end. — Jer. xxix. n. 

HPHE most pathetic energies of consolation can 
be imparted by Religion alone. . . . The firm 
persuasion that all things that concern us are 
completely, every moment, in the hands of our 
Father above, infinitely wise and merciful ; that 
He disposes all these events in the best possible 
manner; and that we shall one day bless Him 
for even His most distressing visitations. . . . Do 
not altogether turn away from sweet Hope, with 
her promises and smiles. Do not refuse to be- 
lieve that this dark hour will pass away, and the 
heavens shine again. 

John Foster. 

Blindfolded and alone I wait; 
Loss seems too bitter, gain too late ; 
Too heavy burdens in the load 
And too few helpers on the road ; 
And joy is weak, and grief is strong, 
And years and days so long, so long : 
Yet this one thing I learn to know 
Each day more surely as I go, 
That I am glad the good and ill 
By changeless laws are ordered still, 
Not as I will. 

H. H. 

( 2I 7) 



August 5. 



I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin net 
with my tongue : I will keep my 771011th with a bri- 
dle, while the wicked is befo7-e 77ie. — Ps. xxxix. 1. 



/^IVE not thy tongue too great a liberty, lest it 
take thee prisoner. A word unspoken is like 
a sword in the scabbard, thine : if vented, thy 
sword is in another hand. If thou desirest to be 



If a man think it a small matter or of mean 
concernment to bridle his tongue, he is much 
mistaken : for it is a point to be silent when oc- 
casion requires, and better than to speak, though 
never so well. 



Whenever you speak, watch yourself : repent- 




held wise, be so wise as to hold thy tongue. 



Quarles. 



Plutarch. 




No sinful word, nor deed of wrong, 
Nor thoughts that idly rove, 
But simple truth be on our tongue, 
And in our hearts be love. 



(218) 



August 6. 

Order my steps in thy word. — Ps. cxix. 133. 

\li TE might accumulate great spiritual riches, 
and lay up an abundant treasure in Heaven, 
if we would but use all the trifling opportunities 
which meet us at every turn, for the service of 
God . . . and a trifling good action done for love 
of Him is worth far more than some great thing 
in which love has a smaller share. . . . People are 
apt to think slightingly of trifling acts of forbear- 
ance towards an ill-tempered neighbor, patient 
endurance of his imperfections, meekness under 
angry looks, willing acceptance of contempt and 
humiliation, petty injustice, preference shown to 
another, ridicule, or troublesome importunitv. A 
.ready performance of tasks beneath our ordinary 
position, a pleasant answer given to an unde- 
served or petulant reproof, the power of taking a 
refusal gracefully or receiving a favor thankfully, 
... all these are counted as verv small virtues 
by the high-minded and proud at heart. . . . 
Evervbodv wants to attain to conspicuous and 
shining virtues, but very few seek after the lowly 
graces, the thyme and sweet herbs, which grow 7 
beneath the shadow of the Life-Giving Tree. 

Francis de Sales. 

(219) 



August 7. 



And the peace of God, which passeth all under- 
standing, shall keep your hearts and minds through 
Christ Jesus. — Phil. iv. 7. 

T^HERE are times — they only can understand 
who have known them — when passion is 
dumb, and purest love maintains her whole do- 
minion ; when God is not cried to, but felt in holy 
influence, speaking to us more than we to him ; 
the home-sick wanderer is happy in his Father's 
house ; from the deep gladness a forgiving wish 
flows forth to every wrong a fellow-man has done 
us ; . . . and the soul, showing itself substantial 
amid all these earthly shadows, looks unfearing 
into the grave of the body. What are words to 
us now, — present and future, mortal and immor- 
tal ? We live, — how should we ever die ? 

C. A. Bartol. 

Is this the Peace of God, this strange, sweet calm ? 
The weary day is at its zenith still, 
Yet 'tis as if beside some cool clear rill 

Through shadowy stillness rose an evening psalm, 
And all the noise of life were hushed away 
And tranquil gladness reigned with gently soothing 
sway. 

Frances R. Havergal. 
(220) 



August 8. 



In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee : 
for thou wilt answer me, — Ps. lxxxvi. 7. 

TF at any time we be inclined to despair amid 
the waves of misfortune and the malice of our 
fellow-men ; if, weary of injustice and discourage- 
ment, we sometimes feel almost driven to say with 
Elijah, "And now, O Lord, take away my life, 
for I am not better than mv fathers ! " is there no 
comfort in the thought that God is not unjust 
and contemptuous like man ? Our earthly misery 
or lowliness ; the poverty of our intellectual gifts ; 
our failing efforts ; our waning powers ; our many 
feeblenesses and imperfections, so they be not 
stained with wilful sin, do not make us anv lower 
in the sight of God. In spite of all such things, 
we may have attained by His grace the highest 
and best that life has to offer. 

Canon Farrar. 

Dear Lord, my heart hath not a doubt 
But Thou dost compass me about, 

With sympathy divine. 
The love for me once crucified 
Is not a love to leave my side, 
But waiteth ever to divide 

Each smallest care of mine. 

(221) 



August 9 



I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor 
hot : I would thou wert cold or hot, — Rev. iii. 15. 

HPHIS careless attitude of suspense or indiffer- 
ence between virtue and vice cannot last 
lonff. The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, 
and the violent take it bv force. Those who lack 

J 

energy of goodness, and drop into a languid 
neutrality between the antagonist spiritual forces 
of the world, must serve the devil as slaves, if 
they will not serve God as freemen. 

E. Dowden. 

He that is warm to-day and cold to-morrow, 
zealous in his resolution and weary in his prac- 
tices, fierce in his beginning and slack and easy 
in his progress, hath not yet well chosen which 
side he will be of ; he sees not reason enough for 
religion, and he hath not confidence enough for 
its contrary ; and therefore he is, as St. James 
calls him, of doubtful mind. 

Jeremy Taylor. 

There is an unseen battlefield 

In every human breast, 
Where two opposing forces meet, 

And where they seldom rest. 

(222) 



August 10. 



I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my 
fortress: my God; in him will I trust. — Ps. 
xci. 2. 

EST assured, it is the same God who causes 
the scarcity and the abundance, the rain and 
the fair weather. The high and the low states, 
the peaceful and the state of warfare, are each 
good ,in their season. These vicissitudes form 
and mature the interior, as the different seasons 
compose the year. Each change in your inward 
experience or external condition is a new test 
by which to try your faith and love ; and will be 
a help towards perfecting your soul, if you receive 
it with love and submission. Leave yourself, 
therefore, in the hands of Love. Love is always 
the same, although it causes you often to change 
your position. He who prefers one state to an- 
other, who loves abundance more than scarcity, 
when God orders otherwise, loves the gifts of 
God more than God himself. 

Madame Guyon. 

Whatso it be, howso it be, Amen. 

Blessed it is, believing, not to see. 
Now God knows all that is; and we shall, then, 

Whatso it be. 

Christina G. Rossetti. 
(223) 



August 11. 

Then let me sow, and let another eat, — Job 
xxxi. 8. 

TAO you say that this is poor solace, to know 
that others shall rind it easier to live because 
we have found it hard ; see God plainer because 
we grope for Him in darkness ? What if genera- 
tions to come shall possess the land ? — does it for- 
bid that our stroke is heavy and our complaining 
just ? Yes ; a thousand times, Yes. This hope 
for large good to others through our narrow pains 
is the glory of every life which blesses the world. 
It is the secret of mother-love, the ardor of pa- 
triotism, the luminous centre of all that is grand 
and high : that others may profit by our loss, and 
be eased through our pains ; it is the secret of 
the cross. 

Charles M. Southgate. 



Scatter the seed and fear not: 

A table will be spread; 
What matter if you are too weary 

To eat your hard-earned bread ? 
Sow while the earth is broken ; 

For the hungry must be fed. 

Adelaide Procter. 

(224) 



August 12. 

Am I my brother's keeper ? — Gen. iv. 9. 



TV /TONEY lost, — that is a common and bitter 
enough experience. Waste, — -there are 
enough to decry it. But how is it about lost 
men, wasted energies, faculties weakened by 
drink, minds sealed up in ignorance, hearts vacant 
of joy, whole classes lost in vice, w r hole flocks 
scattered in the wilderness of evil, and no shep- 
herd to pity and seek them ? It is the strange 
tiling in the world that man cares so little for 
man. Man is the only jewel ; there is no true 
gold but him on this planet. Why does man pass 
by man and go after something that glitters, or 
stretches wide, or reaches high ? . . . There is no 
passion worthy of us but the passion for hu- 
manity. 

T. T. Munger. 



Must I my brother keep 
And share his pains and toil ; 
And weep with those that weep 
And smile with those that smile ; 
And act to each a .brother's part, 
And feel his sorrows in my heart? 

( 22 5) 



August 13, 



Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, 
therein abide with God, — i. Cor. vii. 24. 

T TE who serves God at the Prese?it Moment 
though it be in a very small thing, such as 
the hewing of wood, or the drawing of water, does, 
in realitv glorify him more than another who is 
prospectively athirst and anxious for things of 
much greater consequence, but at the same time 
neglects or imperfectly performs his present 
duties, 

T. C. Upham. 

A life spent in brushing clothes, and washing 
crockery, and sweeping floors- — a life which the 
proud of the earth would have treated- as the dust 
under their feet ; a life spent at the clerk's desk ; 
a life spent in the narrow shop ; a life spent in 
the laborer's hut, mav yet be a life so ennobled 
bv God's loving mercy that for the sake of it a 
king might gladly yield his crown, 

Canon Farrar, 



The trivial round, the common task, 
Will furnish all we ought to ask : 

Room to deny ourselves; a road 
To bring us daily nearer God. 

(226) 



Keble. 



August 14. 



My flesh and my heart fat let h : but God is the 
strength of my heart, and my portion forever. — Ps. 
lxxiii. 26. 

TT is not for me, who am ignorant and blind, to 
prescribe what measure of health is fit for me- 
If I cannot extend the sphere of my activity, I 
will at least endeavor, by Thy grace, not to neg- 
lect anything by which I can be useful. Far from 
me be all impatience and peevishness. I will en- 
deavor to lessen the cares of my friends for me, 
and express to them my gratitude for all the con- 
cern they show me. The little good I can do, I 
will do with all the zeal of which I am capable. 
Though weak, I am not entirely destitute of 
strength ; and in the exertion of my remaining 
strength I shall not be wholly useless. . . . Thou 
requirest from Thy creatures no more than Thou 
enablest them to perform. To be what Thou 
wiliest I should be : to perform what Thou wiliest 
me to perform, — - this is my duty, and my supreme 
felicity. G. J. Zollikofer. 

When I am feeble as a child, 

And flesh and heart give way, 
Then on Thine everlasting strength, 

With passive trust, I stay, 
And the rough wind becomes a song, 

The darkness shines like day. 

A. L. Waring. 

(227) 



August 15. 



Pure religion and undefiled before God and the 
Father is this, To visit the fatherless a?id widows 
in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from 
the world. — James i. 27. 

\\ THY cannot we be content with the simpli- 
city of the gospel ? Why do we vex our 
souls, and consume precious time in questions 
that are of no use, and never can be satisfactorily 
solved while we are in the body ? What matters 
it to which church you belong so that vou are 
under the banner of God and waging warfare 
against the powers of evil ? Search out the 
widow and the orphan, the tried and the afflicted, 
you will not have far to look ; — go, minister to 
them. Struggle daily, hourly, with your pride, 
your temper, and your selfishness. So shall you 
be too busy for idle controversy and questionings. 

But where is Truth ? What does it mean, 

The world-old quarrel ? 

Such questionings are idle air: 

Leave what to do and what to spare 

To the inspiring moment's care, 

Nor ask for payment 
Of fame or gold, but just to wear 

Unspotted raiment. 

J. R. Lowell, 

(228) 



August 16. 



Neither shall they say, Lo here ! or, lo there ! for, 
behold, the kingdom of God is within you. — Luke 
xvii. 21. 

\\ 7" HAT Paul says in his ardent indignant 
way, Jesus states in an equally energetic, 
but far more majestic and serene mode : it is the 
central thought of the Sermon on the Mount; not 
the life, but heart, condemns or saves ; indeed all 
his teachings are but the amplifications of his one 
great revelation, that the presence of goodness in 
the soul is salvation and redemption ; that every- 
thing in God's world works from within, outward ; 
that we do lovely and beautiful and good actions 
because there is loveliness and goodness in the 
soul ; that actions are not life, but the signs of 
life ; that they are the putting forth of the inward 
spirit, as flowers are the putting forth of the 
beauty in God's mind. 

Eliza T. Clapp. 

That onlv which we have w r ithin can we see 
without. If we meet no gods it is because we 
harbor none, 

Emerson. 

(229) 



August 17. 



Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. — Ps. 
xxxvii. 8. 

9 I ^HOSE who indulge fretful feelings, either of 
anxiety or irritation, know not what an open- 
ing they thereby give to the devil in their hearts. 
" Fret not thyself," says the Psalmist ; " els-c shalt 
thou be moved to do evil" And in entire har- 
mony with this warning of the elder Scriptures is 
the precept of St. Paul against undue indulgence 
of anger : " Let not the sun go down upon your 
wrath , neither give place to the devil." Peace is 
the sentinel of the soul, which keeps the heart 
and the mind of the Christian through Christ 
Jesus. So long as this sentinel is on guard and 
doing his duty, the castle of the soul is kept 
secure. But let the sentinel be removed, and the 
way is opened immediately for an attack upon 
the fortress. Bishop Huntington. 

Into the ocean of Thy peace, 

Almighty One, my thoughts would flow ; 

Bid their unrestful murmuring cease, 
And Thy great calmness let me know. 

O God, how beautiful is life, 

Since Thou its soul and sweetness art ! 

How dies its childish fret and strife 
On Thy all-harmonizing heart. 

Lucy Larcom. 

(23°) 



August 18. 



Tlie discretion of a man defer reth his anger ; and 
it is his glory to pass over a transgression. — Prov. 
xix. ii. 

TF at first the cause seems reasonable, yet defer 
to execute thv an°;er till thou mavest better 
judge. For, as Phocion told the Athenians, who, 
upon the first news of the death of Alexander, 
were ready to revolt, Stay awhile ; for if the king 
be not dead, your haste will ruin you ; but if he 
be dead, your stay cannot prejudice your affairs, 
for he will be dead to-morrow as well as to-day. 
So if thy servant or inferior deserve punishment, 
staving till to-morrow will not make him innocent ; 
but may possibly presetwe thee so, by preventing 
thy striking a guiltless person, or being furious 
for a trifle. 

Jeremy Taylor. 
One of the lessons a woman most rarely learns 

J 

is never to talk to an angry or a drunken man. 

George Eliot. 

*Tis easy to be human ; godlike, hard : 
Easy to bluster, burn, smite, execrate, 
But hard to keep the testy passion home, 
Sheathe the hot sword, and wait the will of God. 

F. R. Abbe. 



(23 1 ) 



August 19. 



/ will bring the blind by a way that they know 
not. — Isa. xlii. 1 6. 

T^\EPLORE not, then, your situation in life, any 
more than the natural constitution of mind ; 
but use it for the building up of a character of 
original strength and beauty. Do not inquire, 
Why was I not born to ease and wealth, to high 
rank and extensive influence ? Wherefore am I 
destined to work obscurely at a laborious trade, 
instead of dazzling the world by conspicuous 
achievements? Bv what curse am I doomed to 
drag about a sickly frame, instead of being 
blessed with a robust system and uninterrupted 
health ? If your circumstances are peculiar, you 
have then a peculiar work to do, an original ex- 
cellence to gain. And God is ever looking down 
to mark your diligence or your sloth. Be careful 
you waste not a single dispensation of Providence. 

C. A. Bartol. 

Like a blind spinner in the sun, 

I tread my days ; 
I know that all the threads will run 

Appointed ways ; 
I know each day will bring its task, 
And, being blind, no more I ask. 

H. H. 

( 2 32) 



August 20. 



Charity . . . seeketh not her own. — i. Cor. 
xiii. 5, 



HE angel of little sacrifices has received 



from heaven the mission of those angels of 
whom the prophet speaks, who removed the 
stones from the road lest they should bruise the 
feet of travellers. There is some work to be 
done, and she presents herself for it, simply with 
the joyous manner of one who finds her happiness 
in so doing. How many oversights repaired by 
this unknown hand ! How many neglected things 
put in their places, without our seeing how they 
came there ! How many little joys procured for 
another without his ever having mentioned to any 
one the happiness which they would give him ! 
Who has known thus how to do good in secret ? 
Who has known how to divine the secrets of the 
heart ? 




Golden Sands. 



Blessing she is : God made her so; 
And deeds of week-day holiness 



Fall from her noiseless as the snow; 
Nor hath she ever chanced to know 
That aught were easier than to bless. 



J. R. Lowell. 



( 2 33) 



August 21. 

Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swal- 
low a camel. — Matt, xxiii. 24. 

r I "HERE are also hovering about Christ an- 
other class : Pharisees and Scribes, critics 
with notions of their own in regard to all things 
in earth and heaven, professional theologians and 
sociologists, theorists who have sunk man in dis- 
quisitions about man, and religion in schemes of 
religion ; who have speculated and refined upon 
religion until they have lost sight of its great uni- 
versal features, and so, at last, have even re- 
versed it, turning its mercy and love into mere 
forms of observance and ritual, straining out 
gnats of heresy and swallowing camels of broken 
eternal law, — a process that finally transforms 
them so that they become cold and bloodless 

haters and despisers of their fellow-men. 

T. T. Hunger. 

I'm sick at heart of craft and cant, 
Sick of the crazed enthusiast's rant, 
Profession's smooth hypocrisies, 
And creeds of iron and lives of ease. 

J. G. Whittier. 

(234) 



August 22. 



Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, 
redeeming the time. — Col. iv. 5. 



'T^O avoid monotony in ourselves we must seek 
expansion of our ideas and deeds ; but only 
bv beino; mindful of others' rights and needs. 
Liberty loses its value without the added grace of 
tenderness in its action. To grow ourselves in 
our own way, to satisfv the wishes of those who 
hold a different ideal from that toward which we 
are striving, — there is the difficulty ! And it is 
only solved by patient love. The home, with its 
varying interests, can be rendered happy only by 
learning the secret of the recognition of each 
others' rights and peculiarities, and that each has 
a claim to self-development but to a certain point. 
When sickness, death, or poverty in the home 
check further progress in some special line of 
work, no complaint should be uttered ; the inev- 
itable should be accepted in brave silence, with 
the remembrance that to fight asrainst it is self- 
destruction. When free growth means only un- 
limited selfishness, it is an evil to one's self and 
an annoyance to others. 

Kate Gannett Wells. 

(235) 



August 23. 



Judge not according to the appearance, but judge 
righteous judgment. — John vii. 24. 

'T^HERE is nothing that needs so much patience 
as just judgment 'of a man, or even of one 
act of a man. We ought to know his education, 
the circumstances of his life, the friends he has 
made or lost, his temperament, his daily work, the 
motives which filled the act, the health he had at 
the time, the books he was reading, the tempta- 
tions of his vouth, — we ought to have the knowl- 
edge of God to judge him justly ; and God is the 
only judge of a man. But, to judge him at all, 
fancy what patience to do all this work even as 
far as we can do it ! There is nothing which en- 
ables us to do it but love of the man. ... It is 
only love which makes us take pains with a man. 
Just judgment must then be slow, and one mark 

of unjust judgment is its haste. 

Stopford A. Brooke. 

And judge none lost; but wait and see, 

With hopeful pity, not disdain ; 
The depth of the abyss may be 

The measure of the height of pain, 
And love, and glory, that may raise 
This soul to God in after days. 

Adelaide Procter. 

(236) 



August 24. 



TJien they that feared the Lord spake often one to 
another. — Malachi iii. 16. 

T^HIS is certain, that, if between you and an- 
other with whom you live there have been 
any reserve, any chill keeping you apart, such re- 
serve vanishes with the first hearty reference to 
life higher than vours and higher than his. I 
said last Sundav that there was no tie closer than 
that of two friends who have really prayed to- 
gether. God himself breaks the ice. He makes 
them one. It is to such a tie that you lay claim. 
When you rise in talk from the bloodless chatter 
of everyday life, the repetition of this or that 
commonplace for which neither of you cares a 
penny ; when you dare, or he dares, with sub- 
lime audacity, to speak of one of the infinite real- 
ities, — if he or you dare speak of heaven, of 
death, of life, of love, of hope ; or of prayer, . . . 
from that moment life is different when vou 
two are together. You have lifted the veil for 
once, and have stood together in the Holv of 
Holies. E. E. Hale. 

Lord, our fellowship increase; 
Knit us in the bond of peace ; 
Join our hearts, O Father ; join 
Each to each, and all to Thine. 

( 2 37) 



August 25. 



Your gold and silver is cankered ; a?id the rust of 
them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat 
your flesh as it were fire, — James v. 3. 

A LL our money has a moral stamp. It is 
coined over again in an inward mint. The 
uses we put it to, the spirit in which we spend it r 
give it a character which is plainly perceptible to 
the eye of God, — a character as clear as if it 
were written in human language. . . . Everything 
that may do good which men hold in their pos- 
session is a trusty — genius, influence, reputation, 
time, money, — and if we withhold it from doing 
good we violate a commandment that reads, Thou 
shalt not steal. . . . The money which we spend 
is heathen, all of it, if some portion is not devoted 
gold. 

Starr King. 

Money, thou bane of bliss, and source of woe, 

Whence com'st thou, that thou art so fresh and fine ? 

I know thy parentage is base and low : 
Man found thee poor and dirty in a mine. 

• • • • • 

Man calleth thee his wealth, who made thee rich ; 
And, while he digs out thee, falls in the ditch. 

George Herbert. 

(238) 



August 26. 



All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord ; and thy 
saints shall bless thee, — Ps. cxlv. 10. 



T^\TD not the saints and sages hold high festival 
with nature in all lands and nations ? For- 
est, hillside, river-bank, were haunted and sacred 
to them. Men have disenchanted nature of the 
magic of primeval spirituality. They repair to 
the woods to shoot the singing birds, or to kill 
them for their plumage. . . . The fields have no 
festival, the sky has no consolation. Let the 
spirit of Christ once more draw us outside our- 
selves, to rejoice in the plenitudes of beauty and 
grace in the world. 

P. C. MOZOOMDAR. 

One impulse from a vernal wood 

May teach you more of man, 
Of moral evil and of good, 

Than all the sages can. 

Sweet is the lore which Nature brings 

Our meddling intellect 
Misshapes the beauteous forms of things : 

— We murder to dissect. 

Wordsworth. 

( 2 39) 



August 27 



Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with 
good. — Rom. xii. 21. 

r T^O be misunderstood even by those whom one 
loves is the cross and bitterness of life. It 
is the secret of that sad and melancholy smile on 
the lips of great men which so few understand, it 
is the crudest trial reserved for self-devotion ; it 
is what must have oftenest wrung the heart of the 
Son of Man ; and if God could suffer, it would 
be the wound we should be forever inflicting upon 
Him. He also — He above all — is the great 
misunderstood, the least comprehended. Alas \ 
alas ! Never to tire, never to grow cold ; to be 
patient, sympathetic, tender; to look for the bud- 
ding flower and the opening heart ; to hope al- 
ways, like God ; to love always, — this is duty. 

Amiel. 

" But my key-note," are you thinking, 

" Will not modulate to theirs " ? 
Seek ! and subtile chords, enlinking, 

Soon shall blend the differing airs. 

• • • • • 

'Twill not be a fruitless labor, 

Overcome this ill with good ; 
Try to understand your neighbor, 
And you will be understood. 

Frances R. Havergal. 
(240) 



August 28. 



Save trie, O God ; for the waters are come in unto 
my soul. . . . I am come into deep waters, where 
the floods overflow me. — Ps. lxix. i, 2. 

ET us hold on though the land be miles 
— 4 away ; let us hold on till the morning breaks. 
That speck on the distant horizon may be the ves- 
sel for which we must shape our course. For- 
ward, not backward must we steer — forward 
and forward, till the speck becomes a friendly 
ship. Have patience and perseverance ; believe 
that there is still a future before us, and we shall 
at last reach the haven where we would be. 

Dean Stanley. 

Lord, is it still the right way, though I cannot see Thy face, 
Though I do not feel Thy presence and Thine all-sustain- 
ing grace ? 

Can even this be leading through the bleak and sunless wild 
To the City of Thy holy rest, the mansions undefiled ? 

I cannot hear Thy voice, Lord ! dost Thou still hear my 

cry ? 

I cling to Thine assurance that Thou art ever nigh ; 
I know that Thou art faithful ; I trust but cannot see 
That it is still the right way by which Thou leadest me. 

Frances R. Havergal. 

(241) 



August 29. 

Ye are all the children of light, and the children 
of the day. — i. Thess. v. 5. 

^\ \ TE will, henceforth, open our eyes to the di- 
vine significance of what lies constantly 
about us ; if God appoints all, all have divine 
meaning. To genius and to piety life is always 
great. To genius no circumstance, no position, 
is commonplace, but each is picturesque and 
peculiar; to the purest devotion no action that is 
right to be done, is low or mean, but all are divine 
and of heaven ; here again is the ground where 
genius and piety meet ; so that the highest burst 
of genius is always devout, and the truest expres- 
sion of devotion is ever full of the fire of genius; 
and as we increase in profoundness of thought 
and feeling do we approach both, for so far as 
life becomes holy does it grow rich and poetic, 
and the saint is the peer and brother of genius. 

Eliza T. Clapp. 

Be good . . . and let who will be clever; 

Do noble deeds, not dream them all day long, 
And so make life, death, and that vast forever 

One grand, sweet song. 

Charles Kingsley. 

(242) 



August 30. 



See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, 
but as wise. — Eph. v. 15. 

TF we are ever in doubt what to do. it is a good 
rule to ask ourselves what we shall wish on the 
morrow that we had done. Moreover, the result 
in the long run will depend not so much on some 
single resolution, or on our action in a special 
case, but rather on the preparation of daily life. 
Great battles are really won before they are ac- 
tually fought. To control our passions we must 
govern our habits, and keep watch over ourselves 
in the small details of evervdav life. 

Sir John .Lubbock. 

God grant that, as our horizon of duty is 
widened, our minds may widen with it : that, as 
our burden is increased, our shoulders may be 
strengthened to bear it. God grant to us that 
spirit of wisdom and understanding, uprightness 
and godly fear, without which, even in greatest 
things, there is nothing : with which, even in the 
smallest things, there is everything. 

Dean Stanley. 

Onlv one day 
God gives to me 
At once — oh. may I use it faithfully. 

Emma S. Watson. 

( 2 43) 



August 31 



Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps ? 
— Job. xxxi. 4. 

TF we are involved in that Providence which 
leads and directs, it will shape all our concep- 
tions of the discipline of life. For I suppose all 
persons come to look upon this world either as 
a mere pleasure-ground, or as a school where im- 
mortal beings are being educated for the skies. 
How differently from these two standpoints will 
they interpret all the events of their probation ! 
From the one the question always is. How do 
they affect. my enjoyments ? From the other the 
question will always be, How are they affecting 
my manhood or womanhood, and my attainments 
for immortality ? How different seem our crosses 
and trials and failures from these opposite points 
of view ! 

E. H. Sears. 

Just as God leads me, I abide, 
In faith, in hope, in suffering true ; 
His strength is ever by my side — 
Can aught my hold on Him undo ? 
I hold me firm in patience, knowing 
That God my life is still bestowing — 
The best in kindness sending. 

Lampertius. 

(244) 



September 1. 



Beloved, let us love one another : for love is of 
God ; and every one that loveth is born of God, and 
knoweth God. — i. John iv. 7. 

A LMOST all that we do for the creature is lost, 
- unless love is blended with it. Love is the 
salt that preserves affections and actions from the 
corruption of life. Eugenie de Guerin. 

When we would convince men of any error by 
the strength of truth, let us withal pour the sweet 
balm of love upon their heads. Truth and love 
are the two most powerful things in the world, and 
when they both go together they cannot be easily 
withstood. The golden beams of truth and the 
silken cords of love, twisted together, will draw 
men on with a sweet violence, whether they will 
or no. R. W. Dale. 

When we come to the end of life it is not the 
wisdom we have acquired, or the wealth we have 
gained, or the fame we have won, that we like to 
remember, but the love we have given and re- 
ceived. 

O Love ! — so hallowing every soil 
That gives thy sweet flower room, 

Wherever, nursed by ease or toil, 
The human heart takes bloom ! — 

Plant of lost Eden, from the sod 

Of sinful earth unriven, 
White blossom of the trees of God, 

Dropped down to us from Heaven, 

J. G. Whittier. 

( 2 45) 



September 2. 



Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, 
whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent 
from the Lord. — n. Cor. v. 6. 

nPHERE are great advantages in not being al- 
lowed to feel at home in the body. An ani- 
mal life antagonizes a moral life. When we are 
at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 
Flesh and spirit play into and help each other, 
but they also contend against each other, and the 
conflict is wholesome. It is a great impediment 
to suffer weakness ; it is a hard thing to halt in 
one's labor and lie down on a bed of sickness. 
But the worth of the experience is plain, it is a 
simple logic : the body is not always to hold us, 
and it is well to be reminded of it, to keep destiny 
in mind. The body is not in itself a source of 
power, and it is well to see it reduced to occa- 
sional weakness. . . . There is a strong tendency 
to make the body itself the chief end of existence. 

T. T. Hunger. 

Here in the body pent 

Absent from Thee I roam ; 
Yet nightly pitch my moving tent 

A day's march nearer home. 

Montgomery. 

(246) 



September 3. 



In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust : let me never 
be put to confusion. — Ps. lxxi. i. 

TV /TUCH of our early trust passes away from us 



like an outgrown garment. Knowledge 
proves insufficient, creeds shrink before experi- 
ence, friendships wither, ideals pass not into 
realities ; but trust in the universe deepens as 
years add wisdom. It is that trust which enables 
us, whatever heaven may be, to bear the bitter 
fact that we no longer have father or mother, hus- 
band or child, — that we are helpless, often home- 
less. Hardest of all is it, at times, to trust God's 
righteousness, which runs so adverse to our ideas 
of right. Why, if we did not trust far more than 
we think we do, we could not endure the misery 
of others. Immortality finds strong grounds for 
belief in our trust that our longings cannot be 
deceived. Kate Gannett Wells. 



Oh, yet we trust that somehow good 
Will be the final goal of ill, 
To pangs of nature, sins of will, 

Defects of doubt and taints of blood. 

That not a worm is cloven in vain ; 
That not a moth with vain desire 
Is shrivelled in a fruitless fire, 

Or but subserves another's gain. 




Tennyson. 



(247) 



September 4. 



Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the 
sou/, and health to the bones. — Prov. xvi. 24. 

T3LEASURE is very reflective, and if you give 
it you will feel it. The pleasure you give by 
kindness of manner returns to vou, and often 
with compound interest. Sydney Smith. 

In the intercourse of social life it is by little 
acts of watchful kindness recurring dailv and 
hourly, — and opportunities for doing kindnesses, 
if sought, are forever starting up, — it is by words, 
by tones, by gestures, by looks, that affection is 
won and preserved. Sala (Hindu). 

Even* one must have felt that a cheerful friend 

J 

is like a sunny day, which sheds its brightness on 
all around ; and most of us can, as we choose, 
make of this world either a palace or a prison. 

Sir John Lubbock. 

Blessed are the missionaries of cheerfulness. 

Lydia Maria Child. 

I thank Thee, too, that Thou hast made 

Joy to abound ; 
So many gentle thoughts and deeds 

Circling us round ; 
That in the darkest spot of earth 

Some love is found. 

Adelaide Procter. 

(248) 



September 5. 



After these things Jesus showed himself again to 
the disciples at the sea of Tiberias. — John xxi. i. 

1VTOW. new-born from death, changed into the 
spiritual life, Jesus' first thought is to go 
back to the well loved place, to meet His friends 
where first He met them, to recall the old life, the 
old emotion, that through them the new might 
take a deeper meaning. I think that is beauti- 
ful ; and it is good news for us if Christ, as He 
was after death, represents what we shall be. . . . 
There are some places upon earth, where we have 
lived with those we loved, so hallowed bv the 
birth and growth of feeling that to see them after 
many years is to grow young again ; so beautiful 
that the' memory of them will be the poetry of old 
age. These we may yet revisit and enter as we 
enter a consecrated temple. 

Stopford A. Brooke. 

As life wanes, all its cares and strife and toil 
Seem strangely valueless, while the old trees 
Which grew by our youth's home, the waving mass 
Of climbing plants heavy with bloom and dew, 
The morning swallows with their songs like words, 
All these seem clear, and only worth our thoughts. 

Robert Browning, 

( 2 49) 



September 6. 



But let patience have her perfect work, that ye 
may be perfect and entire, wanti?ig nothing. — James 
i. 4. 

\J0 position is subject to more petty annoy- 



ances than that of the mother of a family or 
the mistress of a house. It often happens that 
she is interrupted ten times in arranging an ac- 
count or writing a letter. What a habit of holi- 
ness, what an empire over self, must not one 
possess in order to show no impatience and to 
meet these trifling contradictions with equable 
serenity ! To discontinue one's work without any 
apparent trouble, to reply smilingly, to wait 
patiently the end of a long conversation, to re- 
sume calmly the interrupted work, — this is the 
mark of a soul which possesses itself, and which 
God possesses. Oh, how much good these souls 
effect around them, but how rare they are ! 



Yet in herself she dwelleth not, 
Although no home were half so fair ; 
No simplest duty is forgot ; 
Life hath no dim and lowly spot 
That doth not in her sunshine share. 




Golden Sands. 



J. R. Lowell. 



05°) 



September 7. 



Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness, 
than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be 
rich. — Prov. xxviii. 6. 



TF I have no occasion to be ashamed at my 
poverty, I ought not to seek to conceal it from 
the eyes of others. It is by this that it becomes 
so oppressive and insupportable a burden to so 
many persons, who wish to appear different from 
what they really are, and to live like people who 
are in easv and affluent circumstances, without 
the means of doing it. . . . It shall give me no 
uneasiness, then, to own my poverty in all cases 
wheiein this acknowledgment will be necessarv or 
convenient. By this means I shall free myself 
from a painful constraint, and from many trouble- 
some shackles ; I shall be at mv ease ; I shall 
live suitably to my condition, and with tran- 
quillity on the little I possess. . . . But this 
avowal shall always be accompanied with a prop- 
er sense of my natural dignity ; it shall be the 
avowal of a man who knows how to value himself, 
who judges wisely of the worth of things, and 
who has learnt to be contented with his lot. 

G. J. ZOLLIKOFER. 

(251) 



September 8. 

For the eaj-nest expectation of the creature waiteth 
for the manifestation of the sons of God. — Rom. 
viii. 19. 

HPHTJS far I have always thought of death as 
of a friendly visit, which would be welcome 
to me at any moment, because, however happy 
and contented I may be, this life is always 
bounded and enigmatical ; and the rending of the 
earthly veil which then takes place must at once 
enlarge our views and solve the riddle. 

Von Humboldt. 

The secrets of creation, the plans of God re- 
vealed ... it is in these that our thirst of knowl- 
edge, ever satisfied, never sated, will at last be 
quenched. ... A permanent state. This is the 
fulness of joy. My heart can rest in it. For- 
ever ! . . . Eternal youth, eternal desire, eternal 
enjoyment. Madame de Gasparin. 

To others death seems dark and grim, 
But not Thou, Life of life to me ; 
I know Thou ne'er forsakest him 
Whose heart and spirit rest in Thee. 
Oh, who would fear his journey close, 
If from dark woods and lurking foes 
He then find safety and release ? 
Nay, rather with a joyful heart 
From this dark region I depart, 
To Thy eternal light and peace. 

(252) 



September 9. 



Nevertheless , let every one of you i?z particular so 
love his wife eveii as himself ; and the wife see that 
she reverence her husband. — Eph. v. 33. 

TTAPPY will that house be in which the rela- 
tions are formed from character ; after the 
highest, and not after the lowest order ; the house 
in which character marries, and not confusion and 
a miscellany of unavowable motives. Then shall 
marriage be a covenant to secure to either party 
the sweetness and honor of being a calm, contin- 
uing, inevitable benefactor to the other. 

Emerson. 

What greater thing is there for two human souls 
than to feel that they are joined for life — to 
strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on 
each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other 
in all pain ! George Eliot. 

The love that cheers life's latest stage, 
Proof against sickness and old age, 
Preserved by virtue from declension, 
Becomes not weary of attention ; 
But lives when that exterior grace, 
Which first inspired the flame, decays. 
'Tis gentle, delicate, and kind, 
To faults compassionate and blind, 
.And will with sympathy endure 
Those evils it would gladly cure. 

COWPER. 



( 2 53) 



September 10 



For we hear that there are some which walk 
among you disorderly, working not at all, but are 
busy bodies. — n. Thess. iii. n. 

HPHE idle man is the Devil's cushion, on which 
he taketh his free ease : who, as he is unca~ 
pable of any good, so is he fitly disposed for all 
evil motions. The standing water soon stinketh ; 
whereas the current ever keeps clear and cleanly ; 
conveying down all noisome matter that might in- 
fect it, by the force of the stream. If I can do 
but little good to ethers by my endeavors, yet 
this is great good to me, that, by my labor, I keep 
myself from hurt. Bishop Hall. 

Leisure misused, an idle hour waiting to be em- 
ployed, idle hands with no occupation, idle and 
empty minds with nothing to think of ; these are 
the main temptations to evil. Fill up that empty 
void, employ those vacant hours, occupy those 
listless hands, and evil will depart because it has 
no place to enter in, because it is conquered by 
good. Dean Stanley. 

Labor is life ! 'tis the still water faileth ; 
Idleness ever despaireth, bewaileth : 
Keep the watch wound or the- dark rust assaileth ! 
Flowers droop and die in the stillness of noon. 

F. S. Osgood. 

054) 



September 11. 

That your faith should not stand in the wisdom 
of men, but in the power of God. — i. Cor. ii, 5, 



T T VS it never happened to you that, when you 

have given the wisest advice to this or that 
poor man or poor woman who was blundering 
in life, though well pleased with your wisdom and 
confident of success, vou have wholly failed ? 
The man broke the pledge. The woman was as 
dirty as before. Your advice was good, but no 
vital power went with it. You built a good en- 
gine, but you put on no steam. What that man 
or woman wants is inducing motive. You must 
make vour man or woman more religious. What- 
ever religion you have, be it much or little, must 
go into your endeavor, and must enlighten that 
darkened life. For we are not governed bv mere 
intellectual formulas. You cannot play the game 
of life as you would play a game of chess or of 
dominos, by strict allegiance to some written 
law. You must inspire your pupil with a new 
life, you must encourage him with a new hope. 
And this is to say, you must quicken his religion. 

E. E. Hale. 

(255) 



September 12. 



For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your 
heavenly Father will also forgive you. — Matt. 
vi. 14. 

A CHRISTIAN will find it cheaper to pardon 
than to resent. Forgiveness saves the ex- 
pense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of 
spirits. It also puts the soul into a frame which 
makes the practice of other virtues easy. 

Hannah More. 

How fervently we should desire, how watch- 
fully and earnestly should we strive, for the abil- 
ity to forgive perfectly, to put far from us all 
anger, all revenge, and to learn in heart and life 
that hardest of all lessons, — to love our enemies. 

Theophilus Parsons. 

My heart was heavy, for its trust had been 

Abused, its kindness answered with foul wrong ; 

So turning gloomily from my fellow-men, 

One summer Sabbath day I strolled among 

The green mounds of the village burial-place ; 

Where, pondering how all human love and hate 

Find one sad level ; and how, soon or late, 

Wronged and wrong-doer, each with meekened face, 

And cold hands folded over a still heart, 

Pass the green threshold of our common grave, 

Whither all footsteps tend, whence none depart; 

Awed for myself, and pitying my race, 

Our common sorrow like a mighty wave 

Swept all my pride away, and trembling I forgave. 

J. G. Whittier. 

(256) 



September 13. 

For he that hath, to him shall be given. — Mark 
iv. 25. 

T OVE and wisdom are never given without 
equivalent ; everything produces after its 
kind; love begets love — offices of love produce 
offices of love — smiles, smiles — gentleness, gen- 
tleness — activity, activity. It is just so with 
knowledge : let us tell what we know, and we are 
told unto : gifts go to the giver : the rich have 
the most presents, so the rich in knowledge learn 
the most, the rich in Love are the most beloved : 
we always receive of that which we have, so true 
is that enigma of Jesus, " To him that hath shall 
be given." Always of that which we have the 
most do we receive the most ; and, I think, this 
comes from the continual flux and reflux of 
spirit : the air rushes in to fill up the vacuum, and 
it always takes the form of the vacuum it fills. 

Eliza T. Clapp. 

Give thy heart's best treasures. From fair Nature learn ; 
Give thy love — and ask not, wait not a return ! 
And the more thou spendest from thy little store, 
With a double bounty, God will give thee more, 

Adelaide Procter. 

( 2 57) ■ 



September 14. 



If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength 
is small. — Prov. xxiv. 10. 

"1^7HAT we need in adversity is an idea as part 
of our beins:, intertwined with our feelings, 
that God is just as much revealed in trials as in 
blessings, that his goodness is shown in putting 
our moral fibre to hard tasks that will make it 
athletic, and so make us pe rmanentlv noble, as 
the teacher's friendship is shown in putting the 
scholar to a tough lesson that makes his mind 
sinewy and wise. 

Starr King. 

Disappointment will make us conversant with 
the noble part of our nature. It will chasten us 
and prepare us to meet accident on higher ground 
the next time. As Hannibal taught the Romans 
the art of war, so is all misfortune only a stepping- 
stone to fortune. 

H. D. Thoreau. 

Art thou low and sick and dreary, 

Is thy spirit worn and weary 
With its right against the ills of life that seem to fill 

the air ? 

Gird thy loins once more and try, — 
The stout heart wins the victory, 
But never dark despair. 

(258) 



September 15. 



Whoso privily s lander eth his neighbor, him will 
I cut off. — Ps. ei. 5. 

T TALF truths are often more calumnious than 



whole falsehoods. It is not even necessary 
that a word should be distinctly uttered : a 
dropped lip. an arched eyebrow, a shrugged 
shoulder, a significant look, an incredulous ex- 
pression of countenance, nay, even an emphatic 
silence, may do the work, and when the iight and 
trifling thins: which has done the mischief has 
fluttered off. the venom is left behind to work 
and rankle, to inflame hearts, to fever human ex- 
istence, and to poison human society at the foun- 
tain springs of life. 



Suppose that this habitual depreciation of char- 
acter never sinks into actual falsehood and slan- 
der, and that every fault alleged, or hinted, or 
suspected, can be proved ... is a carping, cyni- 
cal temper much less censurable, or are the words 
it prompts much less injurious ? The influence 
of talk of this kind is gradually to lead people to 
believe that there is nothing: in this world which 
it is safe to trust, honorable to love, or discrim- 
inating to admire. 




F. W. Robertson. 



R. W. Dale. 



( 2 59) 



September 16 



But they that will be ?'ich fall into temptation a?td 
a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, 
which drown me?i in destruction a?id perdition. — 
i. Tim. vi. 9. 

* 

T TOW many snares surround the rich man ! 

With how many pretences do riches furnish 
him for insolence, vanity, pride, effeminacy, lux- 
ury, and voluptuousness ! What risks does he 
run of violating the most sacred laws, of forget- 
ting God, of indulging his sensual appetites, of 
despising the poor, of oppressing the weak, of 
hardening his heart, of becoming insensible to 
the misery of others ! . . . Assist me, O my God, 
in the midst of these difficulties ! Enable me to 
escape these dangers, and surmount all these ob- 
stacles to piety and virtue. Ah, if my riches 
would remove me to a greater distance from Thee, 
and lead me astray into the paths of vice and 
folly, rather take them from me. I would infi- 
nitely rather be poor and virtuous than live fool- 
ishly and wickedly in the bosom of plenty. 

G. J. ZOLLIKOFER. 

Great abundance of riches cannot by any man 
be both gathered and kept without sin. 

Erasmus. 

(260) 



September 17. 



He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a 
city that is broken down, and without walls. — 
Prov. xxv. 28. 

TDLUTARCH said to the Emperor Trajan. 

" Let your government commence in vour 
own breast, and lav the foundation of it in the 
command of your own passions." Here come in 
the words, self-control, duty, and conscience. 

S. Smiles. 

He who reigns within himself, and rules pas- 
sions, desires, and fears, is more than a king. 

Milton. 

More dear in the sight of God and his angels 
than any other conquest is the conquest of self, 
which each man, with the help of Heaven, can se- 
cure for himself. Dean Stanley. 

So to the heart that knows Thy love, O Purest! 

There is a temple, sacred evermore, 
And all the Babel of life's angry voices 

O J 

Dies in hushed stillness at its peaceful door. 

Far, far away the roar of passion dieth, 

And loving thoughts rise calm and peacefully; 

And no rude storm, how fierce soe'er it flieth, 
Disturbs the soul that dwells, O Lord, in Thee. 

H. B. Stowe. 

(261) 



September 18. 



For here have we no continuing city, but we seek 
07ie to come. — Heb. xiii. 14. 

"X/OU observe that there is nothing fixed here, 
and that even our houses and homes are but 
as tents which are pitched for a day and a night 
upon the plain. Now you will generally find that 
even this economy of temporal change is neces- 
sitated by deeper changes and growths within us. 
, . . We must pluck up the roots of our old life 
and turn away from its scenery forever. . . . We 
must forego the past, ofttimes with ties that bleed 
where they break, but exscinding the old is the 
stern condition of our enlargement. We mav re- 
main where we are and let the moss and mould 
gather upon us ; but if we would avoid all this we 
must rend the heart's claspings from loved and 
familiar things and let them go out again. Our 
very surroundings as we pass out of them become 
the sheddings of the soul. Our most external life 
then gives us this image of our death to the old, 
and ascension out of it. 

E. H. Sears. 

Our life is not in all these brief possessions ; 

Our home is not in any pleasant spot : 
Pilgrims and strangers we must journey onward, 

Contented with the portion of our lot. 

(262) 



September 19. 



But the natural man receiveth not the things of 
the Spirit of God : for they are foolishness unto him : 
neither can he know them, because they are spirit- 
ually discerned. — i. Cor. ii. 14. 

THX)R beside this law, that every kind of truth 
has its own special organ by which it is dis- 
cerned, there is another law, namely, that these 
organs must be exercised, in order to perform 
their function. . . . We are not compelled by the 
necessities of life to commune with God and im- 
mortality, and therefore these spiritual faculties 
may remain unexercised. If they are thus unex- 
ercised, we shall not be able to discern spiritual 
things. Such is the common law of all our facul- 
ties, and there is no reason to think that it will 
fail in this case. 

J. F. Clarke. 

The world is too much with us ; late and soon, 
Getting and spending we lay waste our powers : 
Little we see in nature that is ours ; 
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon ! 
This sea that bares her bosom to the moon : 
The winds that will be howling at all hours, 
And are upgathered now like sleeping flowers ; 
For this, for everything we are out of tune ; 
It moves us not. 

Wordsworth. 

(263) 



September 20. 



A ma?i that hath friends must show himself 
friendly. — Prov. xviii. 24. 

HPRUE friendship necessarily requires patience : 
for there is no man in whom I shall not mis- 
like somewhat ; and who shall not, as justly, 
mislike something in me. My friend's faults, 
therefore, if little, I will swallow and digest ; if 
great, I will smother them : however, I will wink 
at them to others, but lovingly notify them to him- 
self. . . . Though time be precious to me, as all 
irrevocable good things deserve to be, and of all 
other things I would not be lavish of it, yet I 
will account no time lost that is either lent to or 
bestowed upon my friend. 

Bishof Hall. 

Truthfulness, frankness, disinterestedness, and 
faithfulness are qualities absolutely essential to 
friendship, and these must be crowned by a sym- 
pathy that enters into all the joys, the sorrows, 
and the interests of the friend, that delights in all 
his upward progress, and when he stumbles or 
falls stretches out the helping hand, and is tender 
and patient even where it condemns. 

Mary C. Ware. 

(264) 



September 21. 



But wilt thou know, vain man, that faith 
without works is dead J — James ii. 20. 

IT 7"E believe that true religion speaks in actions 
more than in words, and manifests itself 
chiefly in the common temper and life ; in giving 
up the passions to God's authority, in inflexible 
uprightness and truth, in active and modest 
charity, in candid judgment, and in patience un- 
der trials and difficulties. 

W. E. Channing, 

Do not come to me and tell me you are fit to 
join the church because you love to pray morning 
and night. Tell me what your praying has done 
for vou ; and then call vour neighbors and let me 
hear what they think it has done for you. 

H. W. Beecher. 

Be what thou seemest ; live thy creed ; 

Hold up to earth the torch divine ; 
Be what thou prayest to be made ; 

Let the great Master's steps be thine. 

Sow love, and taste its fruitage pure ; 

Sow peace, and reap its harvest bright ; 
Sow sunbeams on the rock and moor, 

And find a harvest-home of light. 

BONAR. 

(265) 



September 22. 



But let your communication be, Yea, yea ; Nay, 
nay : for whatsoever is more than these cometh of 
evil. — ■ Matt. v. 37. 



T^HIS is the rule of the Sermon on the Mount. 

It is well worth our remark that Jesus Christ, 
who generally dwells on the inner spirit of an ac- 
tion, on its motive and principle, here occupies 
himself on the method, on the outside act, as if 
this were too important in this case to be passed 
by. The truth is that the habit of expression re- 
acts on the man who speaks. The habit of ex- 
aggeration in speech distorts the observation, and 
makes the conscience itself unreliable. And this 
other habit of under-statement, this pretended 
lassitude, which began only in the thought that it 
is genteel to be interested in nothing, ends in 
making the temper as languid as it pretends to 
be. 

E. E. Hale. 

Grant me to observe truth and constancy in my 
words, and remove far from me a crafty tongue. 

Thomas a Kempis. 

(266) 



September 23. 



And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your 
faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to 
knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience ; 
and to patience, godliness. — n. Peter i. 5, 6. 

HPHE virtues all lock into each other. They 
cannot stand alone. Like the stones of an 
arch, no one of them can be wanting without 
making all the rest insecure. That character 
alone is trustworthy in which each virtue takes its 
relative position, and all are held in place and 
confirmed by the keystone of a living faith in the 
great central fact, that there is a God of infinite 
goodness and truth, whose commandments are 
the laws of life in this world and in the world to 
come. Mary C. Ware. 

Remember always thine end, and that time lost 
never returns. Without care and diligence thou 
shalt never get virtue. Thomas a Kempis. 

Live in that Whole to which all parts belong; 

Thus Beauty, Action, Truth, shall be thy dower. 
Compose thyself in God, and so be strong, 

Since only in life's fulness is its power. 
As, in a plant, leaves, flowers, and fruits must grow 

Out of one germ, each centred in the whole, — 
So must Love, Thought, and Deed forever flow 

Forth from one fountain in the human soul. 

Geibel. 

(267) 



September 24. 



Let every one of us please his neighbor for his 
good to edification. — Rom. xv. 2. 

T^ACH member of a family, particularly if he 



be advanced in years, has his little oddities, 
to which he attaches a sort of happiness. It is a 
garment arranged in such a fashion. It is a 
newspaper brought at such an hour. It is a lamp 
put in such a spot. It is a game played in such 
a place. It is a visit expected at such a moment. 
It is a desire, scarcely manifested, but often ex- 
perienced. Watch all these little things. Take 
upon yourself to visit every morning the corners 
where they love to find everything that is useful 
for the day. Go first to the apartment where 
they all assemble ; remove everything which 
would displease them ; complete all the arrange- 
ments which have been carelesslv made. Do all 
this without noise, without parade. Enjoy alone 
the happiness it gives you. . 




Golden Sands. 



O Master, let me walk with Thee 
In lowly paths of service free ; 



Tell me Thy secret ; help me bear 
The strain of toil, the fret of care. 



Washington Gladden. 



(268) 



September 25. 



And I appoint unto you a kingdom,, as my Father 
hath appointed unto me. — Luke xxii. 29. 

TT is something to learn to live in the present, to 
feel that the present duty, pleasure, circum- 
stance, is alone good and wonderful ; we say, if 
we were only differently placed, life would be so 
interesting ; if we were in such or such a position, 
then should we be intellectual, or amiable, or use- 
ful ; or if this or that event should happen to us, 
then should we be elated and happy. It is all a 
mistake. That very event or position, if possessed 
by us, would look just as little extraordinary as 
that we are now in ; situations not our own lie 
before us like a landscape view ; every part, how- 
ever mean in detail, goes to contribute to the ef- 
fect of the whole, and shares in its ideal charac- 
ter ; but we cannot see the picture of which we 
ourselves form a part. We do not know that the 
clay, the hour, the employment, the incident, be- 
fore which we in our own persons stand, and that 
looks, perhaps, so worn and dusty, is in reality 
divine. Eliza T. Clapp. 

Routine of duties, 

Commonplace cares, — 
Angels disguised 

Entertained unawares. 

F. L. Hosmer. 



(269) 



September 26, 



Hath not God chose?i the poor of this world rich 
in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath 
promised to them that love him ? — James ii. 5. . 

TF your sphere be outwardly humble, if it even 
-L appears to be quite insignificant, God under- 
stands it better than you do, and it is a part of 
His wisdom to bring out great sentiments in hum- 
ble conditions, great principles in works that are 
outwardly trivial, great characters under great ad- 
versities and heavy loads of incumbrance. 

H. Bushnell. 

What, stand with slackened hands and fallen 
heart over the littleness of your service ! Too 
little, is it, to be perfect in it ? Would you, then, 
if you were Master, risk a greater treasure in the 
hands of such a man ? Oh, there is no man, no 
woman, so small that they cannot make their life 
great by high endeavor. . . . This is the begin- 
ning of all Gospels, — that the kingdom of heaven 
is at hand just where we are. 

William C. Gannett. 

The gentle heart that thinks with pain 

It scarce can lowliest task fulfil ; 

And if it dared its life to scan, 
Would ask but pathway low and still, — 

Often such lowly heart is brought 

To act with power beyond its thought ; 
For God, through ways they have not known, 
Will lead His own. 

(270) 



September 27. 



Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quick- 
ened, except it die. — i. Cor. xv. 36. 

/^VUT of death springs life. We must die nat- 



urally, in order that we may live spiritually. 
The beautiful flowers spring up from dead seeds ; 
and from the death of those evil principles that 
spread so diffusively and darkly over the natural 
heart springs up the beauty of a new life, the 
quiet but ravishing bloom of holiness. 



I shall die. What is there terrible about that ? 
How many changes have taken place, and are 
now in progress, in my fleshly existence, and I 
have not feared them ? Why should I fear this 
change which has not yet come, and in which 
there is not only nothing repulsive to my reason 
and experience, but which is so comprehensible, 
so familiar, and so natural for me, that during the 
whole course of my life I have formed fancies in 
which the death both of animals and of people 
has been accepted by me as a necessary and often 
agreeable condition of life. 




T. C. Upham. 



Count L. Tolstoi. 



( 2 7i) 



September 28. 



With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and 
not to men. — Eph. vi. 7. 

T3ERF0RM a kind action, and you find a kind 
feeling growing in yourself, even if it was not 
there before. As you increase the number of 
Your kind and charitable interests, you find that, 
the more you do for them, the more you love 
them. Serve others, not because they are your 
friends, not because they are interesting, not be- 
cause thev are grateful. • • ■ Serve them because 
thev are the children of vour Father, and there- 
fore are all your brethren, and you will soon find 
that the fervent heart keeps time with the chari- 
table hands. 

W. B. O. Peabody. 

Around each pure domestic shrine 
Bright flowers of Eden bloom and twine, 

Our hearths are altars all ; 
The prayers of hungry souls and poor, 
Like armed angels at the door, 

Our unseen foes appal. 

Keble. 

No man can really save another unless he saves 
himself. It is the Q'ood man. bv his rood deeds, 
that gives life to the world. 

Phillips Brooks. 

(272) 



September 29. 



Better is little with the fear of the Lord, than 
great treasure and trouble therewith. — Prov. 
xv. 1 6. 

A RE you not surprised to find how indepen- 
dent of money peace of conscience is, and 
how much happiness can be condensed in the 
humblest home ? A cottage will not hold the 
bulky furniture and sumptuous accommodations 
of a mansion, but if God be there a cottage will 
hold as much happiness as might stack a palace. 

James Hamilton. 

I will account virtue the best riches, knowledge 
the next, riches the worst ; and therefore will la- 
bor to be virtuous and learned without condition : 
as for riches, if they fall in my way, I refuse them 
not ; but if not, I desire them not. 

Bishop Hall. 

In palaces are hearts that ask, 

In discontent and pride, 
Why life is such a dreary task, 

And all good things denied ; 
And hearts in poorest huts admire 

How love has in their aid 
(Love that not ever seems to tire) 

Such rich provision made. 

R. C. Trench. 

(273) 



September 30. 



And let 7is consider one another to provoke unto 
love and to good works. — Heb. x. 24. 



TF you would have sunlight in your home, see 
that you have work in it ; that you work your- 
self, and set others to work. Nothing makes 
moroseness and heavy-heartedness in a house so 
fast as idleness. The very children gloom and 
sulk if they are left with nothing to do. . . . Every 
day there is the light of something conquered in 
the eyes of those who work. ... In such a house, 
if there be also the good temper of love, sunshine 
never ceases. For in it the great law of human- 
ity is obeyed, a law which is also God's law. For 
what said Christ, " My Father worketh hitherto 
and I work." Sunlight comes with work. 

Stopford A. Brooke. 



Fly idleness, which yet thou canst not fly 
By dressing, mistressing, and compliment. 

If those take up thy day the sun will cry 
Against thee ; for his light was only lent. 

God gave thy soul brave wings ; put not those feathers 

Into a bed, to keep out all ill weathers. 

George Herbert. 

( 2 74) 



October 1. 



The daughter of my people is become cruel. — 
Lam. iv. 3. 

r I ^HE fashion for birds' wings has been a woful 
time for birds. They have been shot down 
in all countries to supply "gentle woman's'' pas- 
sion for birds' wings. . . . Bird-slaughter as a 
trade has now reached proportions which threaten 
the extinction of some of the most beautiful of 
God's creatures. Humming-birds, kingfishers, 
nightingales, are all shot down. One London 
dealer in birds received a single consignment of 
thirty-two thousand dead humming-birds, eighty 
thousand aquatic birds, and eight hundred thou- 
sand pairs of wings ! But ladies will permit the 
slaughter rather than be out of fashion ! 

S. Smiles. 

Caught 'mid some mother-work, 

Torn by a hunter Turk, 

Just for your hat ! 
Plenty of mother-heart yet in the world : 
All the more wings to tear, carefully twirled 
Women want that ? 

Oh, but the shame of it, 
Oh, but the blame of it, — 
Price of a hat ! 
Just for a jauntiness brightening -the street 
This is your halo, O faces so sweet, — 
Death : and for that ! 

William C. Gannett. 

(275) 



October 2. 



God is love ; and he that dwelleth in love. dweU- 
cth in God, and God in him. — i. John iv. 16. 



JESUS found that those around him had made 
the old name Jehovah to be a wooden need 
and an idol. Instead of it he taught them to pray 
to " Our Father." The name is nothing. The 
reality of present love is all. Call God what you 
will. Call him ;i the power which works for right- 
eousness," which is, I think, the latest formula. 
Call him " the Spirit which inspires law." Call 
him "the Eternal," as the Jews called him, or call 
him " Our Father." So you find him in the sun- 
shine, find him in the cool of night, see him in the 
stars of the infinite heaven, and hear him in his 
whisper which tells of right and truth, you find 
love, and know that love rules the heaven and the 
earth. As you know that, all darkness flies away. 

E. E. Hale. 

Love had he found in huts where poor men lie ; 

His daily teachers had been woods and rills, 
The siience that is in the starry skv, 

The sleep that is among the lonely hills. 

Wordsworth. 

(276) 



October 3. 



Commit thy way unto the Lord ; trust also in 
him ; and he shall bring it to pass. — Ps. xxxvii. 5. 

T^O not disturb thyself by thinking of the whole 
of thy life. Let not thy thoughts at once em- 
brace all the various troubles which thou mavest 
expect to befall thee : but on every occasion ask 
thyself, What is there in this that is intolerable 
and past bearing ? for thou wilt be ashamed to 
confess. In the next place remember that neither 
the future nor the past pains thee, but only the 
present. But this is reduced to a very little if 
thou only circumscribest it, and chidest thy mind 
if it is unable to hold out against even this. 

Marcus Aurelius. 

Rejoice, O grieving heart ! 

The hours fly fast ; 
With each some sorrow dies, 
With each some shadow flies, 

Until at last 
The red dawn in the east 
Bids weary night depart, 

And pain is past. 
Rejoice then, grieving heart, 

The hours flv fast. 

J 

Adelaide Procter. 

(277) 



October 4. 

/ have learned, in whatsoever state I am, there- 
with to be content. — Phil. iv. n. 

TTE is wealthy enough that wanteth not: he is 
great enough that is his own master : he is 
happy enough that lives to die well. Other things 
I will not care for ; nor too much for these, save 
only for the last, which alone can admit of no im- 
moderation. 

Bishop Hall. 

Everything harmonizes with me which is har- 
monious to thee, O Universe. Nothing for me is 
too early nor too late which is in due time for 
thee. Evervthins; is fruit to me which thy seasons 
bring, O Nature : from thee are all things, in thee 
are ail things, to thee all things return. 

Marcus Aurelius. 

The wind has blown where it listeth : 
I wait with cheerful mood ; — 
I know the work is good. 

Chilly morns of first Autumn 
Proclaim a frost is near ; 
I rest : I do not fear. 

Winter shall come soon, and dreary 
Behind her blithe trips Spring 
My full reward to bring. 

(278) 



October 5. 



For our light affliction, which is but fo* a mo- 
ment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eter- 
nal weight of glory, — n. Cor. iv. 17. 

OUFFERIXG was a curse from which man fled ; 



^ now it becomes a purification of the soul, a 
sacred trial sent by Eternal Love. ... a strange 
initiation into happiness. Oh. power of belief ! 
All remains the same, and vet all is changed. A 
new certitude arises to deny the apparent and the 
tangible ; it pierces through the mystery of things, 
it places an invisible Father behind visible nature, 
it shows us joy shining through tears, and makes 
of pain the beginning of joy. Amiel. 

What is it that promotes the most and the deep- 
est thought in the human race ? It is not learn- 
ing ; it is not the conduct of business ; it is not 
even the impulse of the affections. It is suffer- 
ing : and that, perhaps, is the reason why there is 
so much suffering in the world. 



" What is it thou knowest, sweet voice ? " I cried 
A hidden hope, the voice replied ; 

So heavenly toned, that in that hour 
From out my sullen heart a power 
Broke, like the rainbow from the shower. 

To feel, altho' no tongue can prove, 
That even* cloud that spreads above 
And veileth love, itself is love. 




Sir Arthur Helps. 



Tennyson. 



( 2 79) 



October 6. 



The Lord is merciful, and gracious, slow to anger, 
and plenteous in mercy. — Ps. ciii. 8. 

TF we will but observe the mode of God's work- 
ings within us, we may learn many of his softer 
attributes. Years are we making a single attain- 
ment, and yet His patience is inexhaustible. We 
make resolutions, and break them, — ascend a few 
steps, and then sink even lower than before : it 
would seem as if we must needs give up ; but 
softly, invisibly, mysteriously, is infused within us 
the hope of amendment, of recovery, — the spirit 
to try again ! What should we do if, after our 
failures, we were debarred from this wonderful 
panacea of trying again ? It is very touching, — 
it brings both smile and tear, to see this eternal 
hope, which always soars like a white dove from 
under the shadow of every disappointment, so 
white, so fresh, as if its wings were cleansed anew 
in the darkness out of which it came. 

Eliza T. Clapp. 

Yet a little while, 

Yet a little way, 
Saints shall reap and rest and smile 

All the day : — 
Up ! let's trudge another mile. 

Christina G. Rossetti. 

(280) 



October 7. 



But my God shall supply all your need. — Phil. 
iv. 19. 

T^AR from me be that discouragement, those 
painful apprehensions, those anticipated un- 
easinesses to which the poor sometimes give way. 
Little is wanted for the support of a man who 
knows how to confine himself to simple necessa- 
ries, and who has shaken off the yoke of artificial 
wants. And hast thou not, O my God, an infinite 
variety of means to relieve my wants and extri- 
cate me from my misery ? If I make a prudent 
use of my abilities, if I labor with persevering 
zeal and activity, can I suspect Thou wilt ever 
forget and forsake me : that Thou wilt permit Thy 
creature, Thy child, to want what is necessary ? 
Besides, how uncertain is that future period about 
wmich I distress myself ! how short and fleeting is 
the life of man ! Why, then, should I give my- 
self up a prey to inquietudes about distant events, 
which I may never see ? 

G. J. ZOLLIKOFER. 

As a little child relies 

On a ca;e beyond his own ; 
Knows he's neither strong nor wise, 

Fears to stir a step alone ; 
Let me thus with Thee abide, 
As my Father, Guard, and Guide. 

John Newton. 

(281) 



October 8. 



But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the 
heathen do : for they think that they shall be heard 
for their much speaking. — Matt. vi. 7. 

PRAYER without faith degenerates into ob- 
jectless routine, or soulless hypocrisy. Prayer 
with faith brings Omnipotence to back our peti- 
tion. Better not pray until you are in real serious 
need of a thing, better not pray unless and until 
your whole being respond to the efficacy of your 
supplication. When the true prayer is breathed, 
earth and heaven, the past and future, say Amen. 
And Christ prayed such prayers. 

P. C. Mozoomdar. 

Be alone with God, that your soul may be free 
to speak to Him, and to hear Him. But be alone 
in your inmost hearts, shutting out busy, anxious 
thoughts, that they throng not in with the prayers, 
and cloud not the sight and thought of God. 
Practise in life whatever thou prayest for, and 
God will give it thee more abundantly. 

Bishop Huntington. 

Say what is prayer when it is prayer indeed ? 
The mighty utterance of a mighty need. 

The man is praying who doth press with might 
Out of his darkness into God's own light. 

All things that live from God their sustenance wait, 
And sun and moon are beggars at his gate. 

R. C. Trench. 

(282) 



October 9. 

In quietness and in coiifidence shall be your 
strength. — Is a. xxx. 15. 

/TCERO asserts that the noises of earth pre. 

vent men from hearing the harmony of the 
stars as thev roll through the ether. In the same 
way the tumult of the century and the bustle of 
life render the soul deaf to the mysterious voices 
which summon him on high. 

Joseph Roux. 

Whensoever a man desireth anything inordi- 
nately, he becomes presently disquieted within him- 
self. . . . True quietness of heart, therefore, is 
gotten by resisting our passions, not by obeying 
them. 

Thomas a Kempis. 

I have a treasure which I prize ; 

Its like I cannot find : 
There's nothing like it on the earth ; 

'Tis this — a quiet mind. 

But 'tis not that I'm stupefied, 

Or senseless, dull, or blind ; 
'Tis God's own peace, within my heart, 

Which forms my quiet mind, 

C283) 



October 10. 

Lead me in thy truths and teach me. — Ps. xxv, 5. 



RUTH is a seed, wrapt round in opinion : it 



grows, it swells, it bursts its successive rinds, 
yet each one encloses the last, like the bark of a 
tree ; but all the former are rejected because the 
ever living sap of life has overflowed their bounds. 
Let us cling to truth, nor pause and falter in the 
demand for it : it is literally our life : but let us 
realize that our present opinion is never ultimate. 
But if we are true and free, by and by we shall 
lay it aside, and it will be to us an appearance 
only, from which the reality has gone forth to seek 
new form. The manna must be gathered every 
day. Woe to them who think to feed on the mor- 
row 7 with the food of the past. This conviction 
may serve to banish all bigotry, all conceit. 



The world advances, and in time outgrows 
The laws that in our fathers' days were best; 
And, doubtless, after us, some purer scheme 
Will be shaped out by wiser men than we, 
Made wiser by the steady growth of truth. 




Eliza T. Clapp. 



J. R. Lowfll. 



(284) 



October 11. 

Surely every man walketh in a vain show : surely 
they are dis-quieted in vain. — Ps. xxxix. 6. 



T "X TE cannot be still, cannot be at rest. It is 

the most natural and yet the most ruinous 
fault which belongs to men in an age which lives 
too fast and has almost a morbid passion for in- 
cessant labor. Oh, men of little faith ! . . . be- 
cause you are forced to be outwardly inactive, do 
you think you also may not be, in your years of 
quiet, " about your Father's business " ? 

Bishop Huntington. 



Oh, the little birds sang east, 
And the little birds sang west, 
And I said in underbreath, — - 
All our life is mixed with death, 
And who knoweth which is best ? 

Oh, the little birds sang east, 

And the little birds sang west, 

And I smiled to think God's greatness 

Flowed around our incompleteness,-— 

Round our restlessness, His rest. 

E. B. Browning. 

(285) 



October 12, 



My soul cleaveth unto the dust : quicken thou me 
according to thy word. — Ps. cxix. 25. 

T ENTREAT you, give no place to despondency. 

This is a dangerous temptation, — a refined, 
not a gioss temptation of the adversary. Melan- 
choly contracts and withers the heart, and renders 
it unfit to receive the impressions of grace. It 
magnifies and gives a false coloring to objects, 
and thus renders your burdens too heavy to bear. 
God's designs regarding you, and his methods of 
bringing about those designs, are infinitely wise. 

Madame Guyon. 

A firm confidence in an overruling Providence 
— a remembrance of the shortness of human life, 
that it will soon be over and finished — that we 
scarcely know, unless we could trace the remote 
consequences of every event, what would be good, 
and what an evil ; these are very important topics 
in that melancholy which proceeds from grief. 

Sydney Smith. 

Only one day 
To bear the strain 
Of living, and to battle with the pain. 

Emma S. Watson. 

(286) 



October 13 



Well done, thou good and faithful servant ; thou 
hast been faithful over a few things, I will make 
thee ruler over many things : enter thou into the joy 
of thy Lord, — Matt. xxv. 2 1 . 

T^iO you remember that old story of a young 
man with bent head standing; on the border 
of a vast piece of ground which he had to culti- 
vate, discouraged, and murmuring, " I can never 
do it ; it is too large " ? " My son," said his 
father, " you have not all this field to plough. 
Do you see this little corner marked by a slight 
ridge ? That is all your task of to-day ; only oc- 
cupy yourself with that." 

" Golden Sands." 

One person may not succeed in dispelling all 
the miasms of the earth, but if he can only cleanse 
one little corner of it, if he can but send through 
the murky air one cool, bracing, healthy gale, he 
will do much better than to sit under his vine, 
scared by the greatness of the evil. 

Gail Hamilton. 

Go make thy garden fair as thou canst, 

Thou workest never alone, 
Perchance he whose plot is next to thine 

Will see it, and mend his own. 

(287) 



October 14. 



Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord fro77i 
henceforth : Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest 
from their labors ; and their works do follow them. 
Rev. xiv. 13. 

ALL the great and wise and good among man- 
kind, all the benefactors of the human race, 
whose names I read in the world's history, and 
the still greater number of those whose good 
deeds have outlived their names, — all those have 
labored for me. I have entered into their har- 
vest. I walk the green earth which thev inhab- 
ited. I tread in their footsteps, from which bless- 
ings grow. I can undertake the sublime task 
which thev once undertook, the task of making 
our common brotherhood wiser and happier. I 
can build forward, where they were forced to 
leave off: and bring nearer to perfection the 
great edifice which they left uncompleted. And 
at length I too must leave it. and go hence. Oh, 
this is the sublimest thought of all ! I can never 
finish the noble task : therefore, so sure as this 
task is my destiny, I can never cease to work, and 
consequentlv never cease to be. What men call 
death cannot break off this task which is never 
ending. 

Longfellow. 

We die not at all, for our deeds remain 
To crown with honor, or mar with stain ; 
Through endless sequence of years to come 
Our lives shall speak, when our lips are dumb. 

(288) 



October 15. 



Give us day by day our daily bread. — Luke 
xi. 3. 

' I *HE Christian's store of provision for his jour- 

ney is meted out to him clay by clay ; which 
implies that in God's estimate a day is a complete 
cycle, a little life in itself. . . . Why not pray 
compendiously and once for all. Give me bread, 
Lord, during the term of mv life ? Whv but be- 
cause another day is not so much another stas;e 
in the pilgrimage, as actually another pilgrimage, 
in itself complete, without any consideration of 
what went before, or what is to follow after ? I 
know not whether I may live to see another clay. 
If, therefore, bread for a whole lifetime were to be 
given me to-day. it might be more than was 
needed. And to pray for more than we need 
would be inconsistent with the sobriety which 
should characterize prayer, 

Dean Goulburn. 

Every morning, a man may say. 

Calls him up with a new birthday. 

Every day is a little life, 

Sunny with love, stormy with strife ; 

Every night is a little death, 

From which too soon he awakeneth. 

George MacDonald. 

(289) 



October 16 



She openeth her mouth with wisdom ; a?id in her 
tongue is the law of kindness. — Prov. xxxi. 26. 



TN picturing, then, the ideal life of woman in her 
home and in society, I should utterly fail if I 
did not convey to you my sense that it must be 
supremely a loving life, — a life of tender, multi- 
form, perennial sympathy with the pleasures and 
joys of all around her, and of the deep joy of fer- 
vent, personal affection. . . . My ideal life would 
be, first, the closest love of one; then, true and 
tender affection for many ; then, kindly good-will 
to all. 

Frances Power Cobbe. 

She doeth little kindnesses 

Which most leave undone or despise ; 

For naught that sets one heart at ease, 

And giveth happiness or peace, 

Is low-esteemed in her eyes. 

She hath no scorn of common things; 
And, though she seem of other birth, 
Round us her heart entwines and clings, 
And patiently she folds her wings 
To tread the humble paths of earth. 

J. R. Lowell, 

(290) 



Ootober 17. 



But God said unto him, Thou fool, this flight thy 
soul shall be required of thee : then whose shall those 
things be which thou hast provided 1 

So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and 
is ?iot rich toward God. — Luke xii. 20, 21. 

/^VVER against every prominent allowance for 
a personal luxury the celestial record-book 
ought to show some entry in favor of the cause 
of goodness and suffering humanity ; for every 
guinea that goes into a theatre or museum, an 
athenaeum, or the treasurv of a music hall, there 
ought to be some twin-guinea pledged for a truth, 
or flying on some errand of mercy in a city so 
crowded with misery as this. Then we have a 
right to our amusements and our graceful pleas- 
ures. Otherwise we have no right to them, but 
are liable every moment to impeachment in the 
court of righteousness and charitv for our treach- 
erv to heaven and our race. 

Starr King. 

God bends from out the deep and says, 
" I gave thee of my seed to sow, 

Bringest thou me my hundred fold ? " 
Can I look up with face aglow, 

And answer, " Father, here is gold" ? 

J. R= Lowell. 

( 2 9 x ) 



October 18. 



The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright, 
but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness. — 
Prov. xv. 2. 

TT is a Christian grace to have pleasant and 
affectionate thoughts about men, to rejoice in 
their excellences, and charitably to forget, as far 
as may be, their short-comings. . . . The words 
which discourage the " charity that thinketh no 
evil," and give keenness, if not malignity, to the 
discovery of imperfection, are corrupt and un- 
wholesome ; they are not to be spoken by our- 
selves, and are not to be listened to when spoken 
by others. R. w. Dale. 

Oftentimes I could wish that I had held my 
peace when I have spoken ; and that I had not 
been in company. ... If it be lawful and ex- 
pedient for thee to speak, speak those things that 
may edify. Thomas a Kempis. 

Give me the heart that fain would hide, 

Would fain another's fault efface. 
How can it please our human pride 

To prove humanity but base? 
No, let it reach a higher mode, 

A nobler estimate of man : 
Be earnest in the search of good, 

And speak of all the best we can. 

(292) 



October 19. 



Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about 
with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside 
every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset 
us, and let us run with patience the race that is set 
before us. — Heb. xii. i. 

"\ T TIL are indeed accustomed to think of heaven 
as distant ; but of this we have no proof. 
Heaven is the union, the society of spiritual be- 
ings. May not these fill the universe so as to 
make heaven everywhere ? Are such beings prob- 
ably circumscribed as we are by material limits ? 
Milton has said, — - 

" Millions of spiritual beings walk the earth, 
Both when we wake and when we sleep." 

It is possible that the distance of heaven lies 
whollv in the veil of flesh, which we now want 
power to penetrate. AY. e. Channing. 

There are who, like the Seer of old, 

Can see the helpers God hath sent, 
And how life's ru°-o-ed mountain side 

oo 

Is white with many an angel tent. 

They hear the heralds whom our Lord 
Sends down his pathway to prepare ; 

And light from others hidden shines 
On their high place of faith and prayer. 

J. G. Whittier. 

( 2 93) 



October 20. 



But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his 
righteousness, and all these things shall be added 
unto you. — ■ Matt. vi. 33, 



\^7*HY does he say first 1 Xot merely because 
it is more important. It is indeed so ; but 
Christ by no means teaches the shallow and irra- 
tional lesson that if you give Yourself to Your 
higher duties God will reward you by supplying 
your lower wants. This would be commercial, 
and not divine. There is no miracle, no break 
in the chain of cause and effect in his care for his 
children. One who thinks so may come to 
poverty and hunger on the knees of unceasing 
prayer. The full truth is that he who seeks first 
and mainlv the righteousness of God's kingdom 
will not come to want, because the habits and 
laws of righteousness will not permit it. For 
what is righteousness? It is right-feeling, and 
right-doing. A man who feels and thinks right, 
and does right, in these very ways provides for his 
future. 

T, T. MUNGER. 



( 2 94) 



October 21. 



Look not every man on his own things, but every 
man also on the things of others. — Phil. ii. 4. 



HE root of all discontent is self-love, — the 



work of true content is work done in love for 
true ends. He who is usefully employed is satis- 
fied wherever he may be. Whether his work is to 
dig the foundation, or finish the inner gilding of 
his master's house, the consciousness of useful- 
ness makes him cheerful and happy. While our 
heart is in getting, we can never get enough, we 
can never be satisfied. But if our heart is in giv- 
ing, in doing good to others, — if we live for that, 
then there comes a healthv and serene cheerful- 
ness, which spreads joy over life, and makes 
death, when it comes, welcome, though unwished- 



Our lives, they are well worth the living 

When we lose our small selves in the whole, 

And feel the strong surges of being 

Throb through us, one heart and one soul. 

Eternity bears up each honest endeavor ; 

The life lost for love is saved, and forever. 




for. 



J, F. Clarke. 



Lucy Larcom, 



( 2 95) 



October 22. 



I verily thought with myself that I ought to do 
many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Naz- 
areth. — Acts xxvi. 9. 

TERROR is not guilt. The guilt of error is the 

fallacy and fiction which has haunted o;ood 
men's minds. We must ffet rid of that entirely. 
Error is not like guilt, error is like disease. Guilt 
would be inseparably attached to error only on 
the assumption that there was on earth some rev- 
elation of God's truth so absolute, sure, and 
clear that no honest man could possibly mistake 
it, so sure and clear that any man who mistook it 
must necessarily be wanton, and obstinate, and 
disobedient, and such a revelation certainly does 
not exist, and never has existed on the earth. . . . 
Stand guard, then, oyer your moral condemnation ; 
do not let it go out against honest error. 

Phillips Brooks. 

Dare we condemn the ills that others do ? 

Dare we condemn ? 
Their strength is small, their trials not a few, 
The tide of wrong is difficult to stem. 
And if to us more clearly than to them 
Is given knowledge of the great and true, 
More do they need our help and pity too — 

Dare we condemn ? 

(296) 



October 23, 



He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, 
and there is none occasion of stumbling in him, — 
i. John ii. 10. 



HE want of sympathy pervades society. We 



do not know each other, or do not care for 
each other as we ought to do. Selfishness strikes 
its roots very deep, In pursuit of pleasure or 
wealth we become hard and indifferent. Each 
person is eager to run his or her race, without re- 
gard to the feelings of others. We do not think 
of helping onwards those who have heavier bur- 
dens to bear than ourselves. Judge Talfonrd's 
last words pointed out the mischief of such a con- 
dition. It makes men regardless of fraud and 
crime. Not recognizing the brotherhood of the 
race, they selfishly and keenly pursue their own 
interests over the bodies and souls and over the 
lives and properties of others. 




S. Smiles, 



Father, who bidst Thy sun to shine 
Upon the evil and the good, 



Oh, may we share, as sons of Thine, 
The kindly heart of brotherhood. 



(297) 



October 24. 



Being fruitful in every good work, and i?icreasi?ig 
in the knowledge of God. — Col. i. i o. 

13ESIDE the education of our powers and fac_ 
ulties, employment is a blessing in helping 
us to bear the severest trials of this life. When 
bereavement or disappointment overwhelms the 
soul with anguish, so that this world seems only 
the dark habitation of despair, . . . then, as we 
hope by the grace of God ever to escape from 
this despair, we should fly idleness as we would 
fly the dagger or the poisoned cup ; and though 
grief be tugging at the heart-strings, though our 
eyes are blinded with tears, we should set our- 
selves diligently about doing something that may 
help to make others happy, and let no duty go 
unperformed : and it will not be long before the 
dimmed eyes shall begin to see the glory of the 
sunshine above, . . . while, so far from being 
deserted by God, we shall feel that sorrow has 
brought us more distinctly than ever before into 
His presence. 

Mary C. Ware. 

There's nothing but what's bearable so long as 
a man can work. 

George Eliot. 

(298) 



October 25. 



He shall choose our inheritance for us. — Ps. 
xlvii. 4. 

I WILL never blush at my poverty. That pov- 
erty which is not the effect of bad conduct is 
no disgrace to any one. It is of no consequence 
to me to be esteemed by any one who would de- 
spise me only because I am poor. It is not the 
person such a man esteems or disregards, it is his 
dress and externals. . . . Can I think that thou, 
O my God, lovest me the less because I am -poor; 
and that my poverty will be an obstacle to my 
future and supreme happiness ? Undoubtedly 
not. Thou hast, perhaps, foreseen that affluence 
and abundance would be hurtful to me, that they 
would become fatal snares to my virtue ; in this 
case thy paternal bounty necessarily led Thee to 
refuse them to me. Possibly my indigence is a 
necessary means of preventing evils from which 
Thou wouldst spare me. . . . Thou distributest 
as it pleases Thee, O God, Thy blessings amongst 
men, according to laws supremely wise, but which 
are, in a great measure, unknown to us. 

G. J. ZOLLIKOFER. 

Lord, I had chosen another lot, 
But then I had not chosen well ; 
Thy choice and only Thine is good : 
No different lot, search heaven and hell, 
Had blessed me, fully understood ; 
None other which Thou orderest not. 

Christina G. Rossetti. 
( 2 99) 



» 



October 26. 

She hath do?ie what she could. — Mark xiv. 8. 



HIS is not the text, but the sermon. There is 



scarcely need of expansion. The heart 
promptly enlarges upon it. applications rush 
through the mind, and the conscience recognizes 
the test and asks. — how far do ^deserve this 
enviable commendation that was given to the 
Bethanv woman ? Are we doing what we can. as 
she did, to defend the right and encourage the 
dutiful ? Are we doing all we can to console the 
outcast and the despondent among us ? Are we 
doing what we can to elevate our lives and to en- 
noble our calling ? . . . Mothers, you dream of 
homes made sacred by holy influences into which 
the dwarfing excitements of superficial life, fashion, 
and sensation, that so endanger your children, 
mav not enter ; are you doing all you can to 
realize this dream ? Fathers, are you doing what 
you can towards leaving your children that ines- 
timable inheritance, a noble example ; the record 
of a life of uncompromising integrity, a sublime 
devotion to truth, a quiet but never failing loyalty 
to conscience ? 




Jenkin Lloyd Jones. 



(30°) 



October 27. 



Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth 
his soul from troubles. — Prov. xxi. 23. 

A RE you tempted to irritable, censorious speech 



or violent deeds, think not of the present 
only, but of the future. At leisure, how often 
have men repented of what they did in haste ! 
How often have thev recoiled in mortification and 
bitter distress from the opponents they had pros- 
trated ! How often has the cold corpse of a hu- 
man being taught them too late that compassion 
which his living presence could not! . . . Now so 
forbear and forgive that you may see looking at 
you, through the mists of the grave, only the faces 
which, before they went, you clothed in smiles. 



How many a heart that bleeds in vain, 
How many a spirit racked with pain, 
Cries out — and bitter is its moan — 
" If I had known ! If I had known ! 

" I would have loved my friends more dear ; 
I would have prized my blessings here ; 
And precious seed more early sown, 
If I had known ! If I had known ! " 




C. A. Bartol. 



M. A. Kidder. 



(3°0 



October 28. 



Touching the Almighty, we ca7inot find him out : 
he is excellent in power, and in Judgment. — job. 
xxx vii. 23. 



"XT 7" HAT is to become of us without hope ? 

Must we either harden or forget ? — ■ There 
is but one answer, ■ — keep close to duty. Never 
mind the future, if only you have peace of con- 
science, if you feel yourself reconciled, and in 
harmony with the order of things. Be what you 
ousfht to be : the rest is God's affair. It is for 
Him to know what is best, to take care of His 
own glory, to insure the happiness of what de- 
pends on Him, whether by another life, or by 
annihilation. And supposing that there were no 
good and holy God, nothing but universal being, 
the law of the all, duty would still be the key of 
the enigma, the pole-star of a wandering hu- 
manity. 

Amiel. 

No longer forward nor behind 

I look in hope or fear ; 
But grateful take the good I find, 

The best of now and here. 

J. G. Whittier. 

(302) 



October 29. 



But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh 
hitherto, and I work. — John v. 17. 

TN the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let 
this thought be present — I am rising to do 
the work of a human being. Why, then, am I dis- 
satisfied if I am going to do the things for which 
I exist, and for which I was brought into the 
world ? . . . Dost thou exist, then, to take thy 
pleasure, and not at all for action or exertion ? 

Marcus Aurelius. 

All true work is sacred ; in all true work, were 
it but true hand labor, there is something of 
divineness. Carlyle. 

To a man at work the frost is but a color ; the 
rain, the wind, he forgot them when he came in. 

Emerson. 

Be sure no honest work, 

Of any honest creature, howbeit weak, 

Imperfect, ill adapted, fails so much, 

It is not gathered as a grain of sand 

To enlarge the sum of human actions used 

For carrying out God's end. No creature works 

So ill, observe, that therefore he's cashiered. 

The honest earnest man must stand and work, 

The woman also ; otherwise she drops 

At once below the dignity of man 

Accepting serfdom. Free men freely work : 

Whoever fears God, fears to sit at ease. 

E. B. Browning. 

(3°3) 



October 30. 



How much better it is to get wisdom than gold ! 
and to get understanding rather to be chosen than 
silver ! — Prov. xvi. 16. 

'"PHE power that wealth gives is not a power to 
A be happy, but a power to obtain certain arti- 
cles which are supposed to contribute to happi- 
ness. To a certain extent it is true that these do 
so contribute ; but it is equally true that very 
many of them delude the purchaser, and minister 
onlv to his care and sorrow. . . . There is no 
permanent ministry of pleasure in them, because 
the soul's content must have a more solid and 
spiritual foundation than material wealth can 
purchase. Howard Crosby. 

He hath riches sufficient who hath enough to 
be charitable. Sir Thomas Browne. 

Riches for the most part are hurtful to them 
that possess them. Plutarch. 

Shall man to sordid views confined 

His powers unfold, 
And waste his energy of mind 

* In search of gold ? 
Rise, rise, my soul, and spurn such low desires, 
Nor quench in grovelling dust heaven's noblest fires. 

Jane Taylor. 

(304) 



October 31. 



For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou 
shalt save thy husband ? or how knowest thou, O 
ma7i, whether thou shalt save thy wife ! — i. Cor. 
vii. 16. 

/^VF all earthly companionship, there is none so 
deeply fraught with weal or woe, with bless- 
ing or cursing, as the companionship of married 
life. After this relationship is formed, although 
the threads still remain the same, the whole warp 
and woof of the being; are dved with a new color, 
woven according to a new pattern. Character is 
never the same after marriage as before. There 
is a new impetus given by it to the powers of 
thought and affection, inducing them to a different 
activitv. and deciding; what tendencies are hence- 
forth to take the lead in the action of the mind ; 
whether the soul is to spread its wings for a 
higher flight than it has hitherto ventured, or to 
sit with closed pinions, content to be of the earth, 
earthy. All are interested in hearing of the es- 
tablishment of a newly married pair in what 
relates to the equipage of external life. Far more 
interesting would it be if we could trace the men- 
tal establishing that is groins: on, as old traits of 
character are confirmed or cast aside, and new 
ones developed or implanted. 

Mary C. Ware. 

(305) 



November I. 



Every man's work shall be made manifest, for the 
day shall declare. — I. Cor. Hi, 13. 



NOTHER day has drifted silentlv into erer- 



nity, and what record have you made upon 
its fair, white page ? Can you think of kind 
words and thoughtful unselfish acts which have 
made the day brighter and happier to yourself 
and others? Or have you by your impatience, 
irritability, and selfishness cast a cloud over the 
sun, or made the dark day darker still to the un- 
fortunate ones who came within your influence ? 
If so, may God forgive you and °rant vou another 
day, on which to write a better record. 

Thou wilt always rejoice in the evening if thou 
hast spent the day profitably, 

Thomas a Kempis. 

The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ, 
Moves on: nor all your piety nor wit 
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line, 
Xor all your tears wash out a word of it. 




Omar Khayyam 



(306) 



November 2. 



For which cause we faiiit not ; but though our 
outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed 
day by day. — n. Cor. iv. 16. 

T HAVE seen too much the gracious work that 
sickness does, to wish to close my eyes on, or 
pass slightly over, her entries in the book of life. 
She is the angel who comes not alone and un- 
attended to the body and soul of man. Herself 
dark, she comes with a bright retinue. Patience, 
resignation, spiritual thoughts of God and of 
futurity come with her. Penitence, . . . resolu- 
tion, pluming herself for a better course ; good 
affections to the Father above, and the brethren 
around, often unfolding more strong and tender 
than they had ever done before in health ; — ■ 
these are the attendant spirits and close com- 
panions of sickness, to whose presence and pre- 
cious agency we can all testify. 

C. A. Bartol. 

Have ye known the shadows darken 

On weary nights of pain, 
And hours that seem to lengthen 

Till the night comes round again? 
The folded hands seem idle : 

If folded at His word, 
'Tis a holy service, trust me, 

In obedience to the Lord. 

Anna Shipton. 

(307) 



November 3. 



My tears have been my meat day ana 7 night, while 
they continually say unto me, Where is thy Godl — 
Ps. xiii. 3. 

T'^OUBT is indeed a thorn that pierces deep. 

To have a mind made to know God, and yet 
not be able to find him; to hunger after the 
truth, and yet not be sure of truth ; to have eyes 
that rejoice in the light, and yet catch only 
glimpses, ■ — this is well-nigh the keenest suffering 
a true man can feel. 

T. T. MUNGER. 

Doubt — doubt of one's self, of thought, of men. 
and of life — doubt which enervates the will and 
weakens all our powers, which makes us forget 
God and neglect prayer and duty — that restless 
and corrosive doubt which makes existence im- 
possible and meets all hope with satire. 

Amiel. 

Ah me ! we doubt the shining skies, 
Seen through our shadows of offence. 

And drown with our poor childish cries 
The cradle hymn of Providence. 

J. G. Whittier. 

(30S) 



November 4. 



Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and 
that seek him with the whole heart. — Ps. cxix. 2. 



EAK and helpless as we may be in the af- 



fairs of this life, there is, however, one 
thing over which we have entire control. Riches 
may take to themselves wings, though honest in- 
dustry exert its best efforts to acquire and retain 



them ; power is taken away from hands that seek 
to use it only for the good of those they govern ; 
reputation may become tarnished, though virtue 
be without spot ; health may vanish, though its 
laws, so far as we understand ihem, be strictly 
obeyed ; but there is one thing left which misfor- 
tune cannot touch, which God is ever seeking to 
aid us in building up, and over which he permits 
us to hold absolute control ; and this is Character. 
For this, and for this alone, we are entirely respon- 
sible. ... If we strive for this, success is cer- 
tain ; for the Lord works with us to will and to 
do. If we do not strive, it were better for us 
that we had never been born. Mary C. Ware. 




My soul shall no more strive in vain, 
Slave to the world, and slave to sin. 

A nobler toil I will sustain, 
A nobler satisfaction win. 



Mrs. Steele. 



(3°9) 



November 5. 



For all seek their own, not the things which are 
Jesus Christ's. — Phil. iL 21. 

TF thou spiest a fault in thy neighbor, instead 
J- of pitying him and thinking that thou thyself 
art liable to the same failing, thou indiscreetly 
reprovest him ; if thou seest a thing convenient 
for thee and canst not compass it, thou growest 
sad and full of sorrow ; if thou receivest a slight 
injury from thy neighbor thou chidest at him, and 
complainest for it, insomuch that for any trifle 
thou art inwardly and outwardly discomposed, and 
losest thvself. . . . Thou believest for the most 
part that thou art virtuous, constant, and coura- 
geous even to the giving up of thy life . . . solely 
for the sake of Divine love ; vet thou canst scarce 
hear the least word of anger but presently thou 
dost afflict and trouble and disquiet thyself. 
These are all industrious engines of self-love, and 
the secret pride of thy soul. Know therefore that 
self-love reigns in thee . . . and that is thy great- 
est hindrance. Molinos. 



I believe in Human Kindness 

Large amid the sons of men, 
Nobler far in willing blindness 

Than in censure's keenest ken. 
I believe in Self-Denial, 

And its secret throb of joy; 
In the Love that lives through trial, 

Dying not though death destroy. 

(3io) 



November 6. 



Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labor 
until the evening. — Ps. civ. 23. 

A /TAN was made for action, — for duty and 
usefulness ; and it is only when he lives in 
accordance with this great design of his being 
that he attains his highest dignity and truest hap- 
piness. To make pleasure our ultimate aim is 
certainly to fail of it. 

Joel Hawes. 

It is a fine thing for any man to be compelled 
to work. It is the first divine decree, issuing 
from love and help. How would it have been 
with Adam and Eve had they been left to plenty 
and idleness, the voice of God no more heard in 
the cool of the day ? 

George MacDonald. 

O what a glory doth this world put on 

For him who, with a fervent heart, goes forth 

Under the bright and glorious sky. and looks 

On duties well performed, and days well spent ! 

For him the wind, ay, and the yellow leaves 

Shall have a voice, and give him eloquent teachings. 

He shall so hear the solemn hymn, that Death 

Has lifted up for all, that he shall go 

To his long resting-place without a tear. 

Longfellow. 

(311) 



November 7. 



Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel 
them to come in, that my house may be filled. — 
Luke xiv. 23, 

TV/TAGXIFICEXT church edifices are not ob- 
jectionable. if rightly come by. Nothing is 
too rich ; too beautiful, too grand for the temple 
of the Most High ; but if, when these structures 
are built, they are accessible only to the rich, 
they are not the temples of the Lord, fort the 
temples of the money that built them. ... If, 
then. Christians build costly churches, and cause 
that " every door is barred with gold, and opens 
but to golden keys," what are they doing but 
practically and effectually, on their own showing 
shutting poor people away from the means of 
grace ? Why should we send money to convert 
the heathen abroad, and shut church-doors in the 

faces of poor Christians at home ? 

Gail Hamilton. 

With gates of silver and bars of gold 

Ye have fenced my sheep from their Father's fold; 

I have heard the dropping of their tears 

In heaven these eighteen hundred years. 

J. R. Lowell. 

(3 12 ) 



November 8. 



Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. 
For there is no power but of God, — Rom. xiii. i. 



/^VUR work is appointed, we have only to do it. 

But our activity may seek wrong directions, 
injurious perhaps to the society of which we are 
members ? I do not know any rule by which we 
can be taught to judge of consequences, nor does 
it seem to me that any eye, save that of the Un- 
sleeping One, can be keen-sighted enough to look 
from the beginning to the end. . . . God guides 
the world. God holds the pen of the scoffer 
against Christianity, and Christendom hastes to 
put that away from itself which can be scoffed at. 
. . . We must do our work, that which God re- 

* 

veals to us, through talent and opportunity, — do 
it, not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but with 
pure heart, as unto Him, 

Eliza T. Clapp. 



My times are in Thy hand, and Thou 
Wilt guide my footsteps at Thy will : 

Lord ! to Thy purposes I bow ; 
Do Thou Thy purposes fulfil. 

Sir John Bowring. 

(3 I 3) 



November 9. 

■ 

In your patie?ice possess ye your souls. — Luke 
xxi. 19. 

T^HOU oughtest, therefore, to call to mind the 
more heavy sufferings of others, that so thou 
may est the more easily bear thine own very small 
troubles. And if they seem unto thee not very 
small, then beware lest thine impatience be the 
cause thereof. However, whether they be small 
or whether they be great endeavor patiently to 
undergo them all. 

Thomas a Kempis. 

How poor are they that have not patience ! — 
What wound did ever heal but by degrees ? 

Shakespeare. 

Blessings may appear under the shape of pains, 
losses, and disappointments, but let him have 
patience, and he will see them in their proper 
figure. 

Addison. 

Let me not dwell upon my lighter share 
Of pain and ill, that human life must bear. 
Save me from selfish pining; let my heart, 
Drawn from itself in sympathy, forget 
The bitter longings of a vain regret, 
The anguish of its own peculiar smart. 

J. G. Whittier. 



November 10. 



Thou compassest my path and my lying down, 
and art acquainted with all my ways. — Ps. 
cxxxix. 3. 

T3E0PLE talk about special providences, I 
believe in providences, but not in the spe- 
ciality. I do not believe that God lets the thread 
of my affairs go for six days, and on the seventh 
evening takes it up for a moment. The so-called 
special providences are no exception to the rule 
— thev are common to all men at all moments. 
But it is a fact that God's care is more evident in 
some instances of it than in others, to the dim and 
often bewildered vision of humanity. Upon such 
instances men seize and call them providences. 
It is well that they can ; but it would be glori- 
ously better if they could believe that the whole 
matter is one grand providence. 

George MacDonald. 

The ways of Heaven are dark and intricate, 
Puzzled in mazes and perplexed with errors, 
Our understanding traces them in vain. 
Lost and bewildered in the fruitless search, 
Nor sees with how much art the windings run, 
Nor when the regular confusion ends. 

Addison. 

(315) 



November 11. 



God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the 
humble. — i. Peter v. 5. 

\\ WITHOUT humility religious progress is im- 
possible. Pride is the destruction of the 
principle of progress ; it whispers to us continu- 
ally that we are all that could be desired, or it 
points our attention to high positions and am- 
bitious efforts beyond the scope of other men. 
Yet the true growth of the soul is not to be 
measured by our attempting many extraordinary 
duties, but by our power of doing simple duties 
well; and humility, when it reigns in the soul, 
carries this principle into practice. It bids us 
hallow our work, especially whatever may be to 
us hard or distasteful work, by doing it as a mat- 
ter of principle. ... It enriches common acts of 
neighborly and social kindness with that intensity 
of moral effort which is due to every act of which 
the deepest moving power is the love of God. 

Bishop Huntington. 

Pride is the prodigality of grace, 

Which casteth all away by griping all; 

Humility is thrift, both keeps its place, 
And gains by giving, riseth by its fall. 

To get by giving, and to lose by keeping, 

Is to be sad in mirth, and glad in weeping. 

George Herbert. 

(316) 



November 12. 



For the love of money is the root of all evil. — 
i. Tim. vi. 10. 

AT THEN the love of money becomes in anv 



man a dominant principle of action, there 
is an end of all hope of his ever attaining the 
true excellence of an intelligent and moral being. 
In the very act of yielding himself to this prin- 
ciple, he becomes, in the sight of God, an idolater. 
. . . Having thus alienated himself from the God 
who made him, he becomes, almost as a matter of 
course, fraudulent and oppressive towards his 
fellow-men. . . . The universal rage is to be rich ; 
and in the pursuit of this object great multitudes 
are sacrificing their consciences, their souls, and 
their God. 




Joel Hawes. 



There walks Judas, he who sold 
Yesterday his Lord for gold, 
Sold God's presence in his heart 
For a proud step in the mart ; 



In his eyes that stealthy gleam 
Was not learned of sky or stream, 



But it has the cold hard glint 
Of new dollars from the mint. 



J. R. Lowell. 



(317) 



November 13 



And I will walk at liberty : for I seek thy pre- 
cepts. — Ps. cxix, 45. 

A WISELY trained Character never stops to 
ask, What will society think of me if I do 
this thing, or if I leave it undone ? The ques- 
tions by which it tests the quality of an action 
are, whether it is just, and wise, and fitting, when 
judged by the eternal laws of right ; and in ac- 
cordance with this judgment will its manifesta- 
tions ever be made. If the mind acquires the 
habit of deliberately asking and answering these 
questions in regard to common affairs, it acquires, 
by degrees, distinct opinions in relation to life, 
forming a regular system, in accordance with 
which the Character is shaped and built up ; and, 
unless this be done, the Character cannot become 
consistent and harmonious. 

Mary C. Ware. 

Oh human soul ! as long as thou canst so 

Set up a mark of everlasting light, 

Above the howling senses' ebb and flow, 

To cheer thee, and to right thee if thou roam — 

Not with lost toil thou laborest through the night ! 

Thou mak'st the heaven thou hoped indeed thy home. 

Matthew Arnold. 

(318) 



November 14. 



To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the 
ti'ee of life, which is i?i the midst of the paradise oj 
God. — Rev. ii. 7. 

OTRUGGLE, earnest, deadly struggle, is the 
^ universal, indispensable law of the soul's ad- 
vancement. He who has never labored at the all 
but hopeless difficulty of self-conquest knows and 
cares naught about the mortal pangs of human 
weakness. 

P. C. Mozoomdar. 

A man is his own best kingdom. But self-con- 
trol, this truest and greatest monarchy, rarely 
comes by inheritance. Every one of us must 
conquer himself, and we may do so if we take 
conscience for our guide and general. 

Sir John Lubbock. 

In the moral world there is nothing impossible 
if we bring a thorough will to it. Man can do 
everything with himself, but he must not attempt 
to do too much with others. 

Von Humboldt. 

Who hath a greater combat than he that labor- 
eth to overcome himself ? 

Thomas a Kempis. 

(319) 



November 15. 



For he that will love life, and see good days, let 
him refrain his tongue from eviL and his lips that 
they speak no guile. — i. Peter iii. 10. 

A LL sins come under the head of thought, 
word, and deed ; and faults in word are the 
commonest and often the most dangerous for 
several reasons. First, because sins of thought 
only injure one's self, and give no scandal or bad 
example to others : God alone sees and is dis- 
pleased at them, and, moreover, a loving repent- 
ance and readv turning to Him blot them out ; 
whereas sins of the tongue go further : the evil 
word once uttered can only be recalled by a hum- 
ble retraction, and even then a brother's heart 
may have been poisoned by it. Again, notorious 
acts of sin are liable to public punishment : but 
evil speaking, unless extraordinarily gross and 
slanderous, is subject to no such check. Sins of 
the tongue are specially dangerous because peo- 
ple do so little in the way of restitution or repa- 
ration for them. 

Francis de Sales. 

Prune thou thy words, control the thoughts 

That o'er thee swell and throng : 
They will condense within thv soul 

J J 

And change to purpose strong. 

J. H. Newman. 

(3 2 °) 



November 16. 

My defence is of God, which saveth the upright 
in heart. — Ps. vii. 10. 

T^HE truly humble man is not troubled and 
afflicted because in some respects he fails in 
securing to himself the good opinion of his fellow- 
men. It is true, he attaches a degree of value to 
the favorable sentiments of others : but, as he at- 
taches unspeakably greater value to the favor of 
God, he can meet their opposition, their rebukes 
and misrepresentations, with entire calmness and 
peace of spirit. And hence it is that, in ordinary 
cases, when he is the subject of such misrepre- 
sentation and abuse, he is not particularly soli- 
citous to defend himself, and to make replies. I 
mean to say that he does not discover anxiety 
and trouble of mind in relation to it. He knows, 
if he acts in simplicity of heart, God will so 
order events that in due time the honor of his 
reputation will be sustained. 

T. C. Upham. 

All-Seeing God ! 'tis Thine to know 

The springs whence wrong opinions flow, — 

To judge, from principles within, 

When frailty errs, and when we sin. 

Sir Walter Scott. 

(32i) 



November 17. 

Neglect not the gift ■which is in thee. — i. Tim. 
iv. 14. 



T TOW many there are in the world about us 
whose life is an utter failure to carry out 
the work God designed them to do, and for which 
He placed them in this present generation. . . . 
There are those who are no more than mere 
machines in the shape of men and women, and of 
no more benefit or service than just to till up 
blank ^spaces. In the great enthusiasm of what 
they might do somewhere else, and in other cir- 
cumstances and surroundings, they are continu- 
ally crying, " Give us a place to stand, and we 
will move the world," while they ignore the true 
philosophy of a man's life and action : — " Stand 
where you are and move the world." 

William B. Smith, 



The busy world shoves angrily aside 

The man who stands with arms akimbo set 

Until occasion tell him what to do ; 

And he who waits to have his task marked cut 

Shall die and leave his errand unfulfilled. 

J. R. Lowell. 

(322^ 



November 18. 



/ know all the fowls of the mountains : and the 
wild beasts of the field are mine. — Ps. 1. 1 1. 



A MONG all the vices gendered in this " body 
of sin," cruelty, perhaps, is the worst and 
most devilish. . . . The susceptibility to suffer- 
ing of the more sensitive animals is equal to, and 
even greater than, that of many human beings. 
They are capable not only of bodily suffering, but 
suffering from fear, terror, grief, anguish, and the 
baffled yearnings of those instincts which are the 
endowments of all animal natures. Thev are 
capable too of being brought into such sympathy 
with man as to reflect back upon him, not only 
the kindness and affection of his nature, but also 
some flashes of his reason and intelligence. . . . 
Oh, if these creatures over which man has domin- 
ion had a language in which to send up their 
petitions and publish their oppressions and 
wrongs, it would fill quite as large a volume as 
any book of human oppressions and martyrdoms. 
And yet the pleadings go up daily to the Eternal 
Mercy from this lower creation that groaneth and 
travaileth in pain together until now. 

E. H. Sears. 

(3 2 3) 



November 19 



Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith ; 
prove your own selves. - — n. Cor. xiii. 5. 

XytXE are vexed, and perhaps tormented, by the 
vices or foibles of those with whom we are 
thrown in contact. Let us not stop in vexation, 
but study our own hearts, and see if there is not 
some kindred vice or foible in ourselves that per- 
haps troubles our friends quite as much as this 
disturbs us ; . . . again, we find persons exciting 
our admiration through their virtues. Let us not 
stop in cold admiration, but reflect how we may 
engraft similar virtues upon our own souls. It is 
deep and earnest Thought alone that can teach 
us to know ourselves, and without this knowledge 
we are in constant danger of cherishing repulsive 
vices such as we should abhor in others, and of 
neglecting the culture of virtues such as in others 
we esteem indispensable. 

Mary C. Ware. 

Endeavor to be patient in bearing with the de- 
fects and infirmities of others, of what sort soever 
they be : for that thyself also hast many failings 
which must be borne with by others. 

Thomas a Kempis. 

(324) 



November 20, 



And he led them forth by a right way, — Ps. 
cvii. 7. 



OUR path cannot always lie along the sunny 



highways of life. You must descend some- 
times into the valley, and sometimes the clouds 
must cover you. Do you say this cross that is 
given you to carry is too heavy ? Or that this 
burden which has been laid upon you should 
have been borne by other shoulders ? God 
knows. He has suffered this trial. He knows 
the beginning and the end thereof. Leave it 
with Him. Look up ! The cloud is not wholly 
black above you ; through that little break a beam 
of light is shining to tell you that the sun is still 
there. Look up steadily ! The cloud is even 
now passing over, and soon all shall be light. 



And ye, beneath life's crushing load, 

Whose forms are bending low, 
Who toil along the climbing way 

With painful steps and slow, 
Look now ! for glad and golden hours 

Come swiftly on the wing ; — 
Oh, rest beside the weary road 

And hear the angels sing ! 




E. H. Sears. 



(325) 



November 21. 

Love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous. — 
i. Peter iii. 8. 



T^RANK, generous conversation, with ability to 
be just as pleasant the next moment as if 
difference of opinion had not been expressed, 
helps each to see his or her mistakes, to under- 
stand whether he or she is acting from love of 
ambition, from obstinacy, or for truth's sake. 
Homes must learn the impersonal art of discus- 
sion, which makes the intellect grow, and leaves 
love and belief in others' sincerity untouched. 
The stronger are we, the more do we feel the 
force of the French proverb, noblesse oblige ; not 
that the person is aware he belongs to the noblesse, 
the world's greatest and noblest, through the in- 
signia of character ; but because, being uncon- 
sciously noble and great, he cannot help being 

tender to others ; strength makes tenderness. 

Kate Gannett Wells. 



Help us, O Lord ! with patient love to bear 

Each other's faults, to suffer with true meekness. 

Help us each other's joys and griefs to share, 
But let us turn to Thee alone in weakness. 

(326) 



November 22. 



Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth : 
therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Al- 
mighty. — Job v. 17. 

T TOW dangerous is uninterrupted health and a 
vigorous constitution ! How prone are we 
to rely on our strength, and to sin under the idea 
of security ! Into what excesses should we not 
run headlong without the restraints of sickness 
and suffering ! Eager appetites, clamorous pas- 
sions, hearken to no other call. The voice of 
reason cannot reach them. As full of suffering 
as the world is, men still find courage to be 
wicked ; and the little of virtue that yet remains 
among us is chiefly owing to this salutary dis- 
cipline. Blessed calamities, that humble pride, 
that calm the passions, that curb each inordinate 
appetite ! Blessed sicknesses, that meet the 
heart in its wanderings, and bring it back to Thee, 
the only centre of rest ! Blessed disappoint- 
ments, which afflict, but purify — tear and har- 
row up the soul, but prepare it for the seeds of 
virtue ! G. J. Zollikofer. 

The hours of pain have yielded good 

Which prosperous days refused ; 
As herbs, though scentless when entire, 

Spread fragrance when they're bruised. 

(327) 



November 23 



But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his 
brother have need, and shutteth tip his bowels of 
compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God 
in him 1 — - 1. John iii. 17. 

HPHANKSGIVING time is nearing us, and we 
may consecrate some of our gold in the good 
old custom of substantial charity to the needy. 
Let us remember the poor that day, at least. 
Let us seek some family in straitened circum- 
stances, and confess the law of brotherhood by 
spreading for them a full board around which 
they may bless the good Providence for the 
bounties of the harvest. . . . Let us consecrate 
some day of this week to such worship of charity 
by our hands, They are Christian dollars that 
kindle up the spirit of joy in chilled hearts, and 
carry the light of hope and courage into gloomy 
homes. 

Starr King. 

Largely Thou givest, gracious Lord, 
Largely Thy gifts should be restored ; 
Freely Thou givest, and Thy word 

Is, " Freely give." 
He only who forgets to hoard 

Has learned to live. 

Keble. 

(328) 



November 24. 



Do ye look on things after the otctward appear- 
ance? — n. Cor. x. 7. 

A S I was taking down a large caldron from the 
fire, Papa told me he did not like to see me 
doing such things ; but I thought of St. Bona- 
venture, who was washing the pots and pans of 
his convent when they went to offer him, I think, 
a cardinal's hat. In this world nothing that is 
low, sin excepted, can degrade us in the eyes of 
God. And so my caldron gave rise to a salutary 
reflection which will save me from disquiet in 
doing certain distasteful things, such as blacken- 
ing my hands in the kitchen. 

Eugenie de Guerin. 

Do not despise your situation, in it you must 
act, suffer, and conquer. From every point on 
earth we are equally near to heaven and to the 
infinite. 

Amiel. 

All may of Thee partake : 

Nothing can be so mean, 
Which, with this tincture, for Thy sake, 

Will not grow bright and clean. 

George Herbert. 



(3 2 9) 



November 25 



Be ye angry, and sin ?iot. — Eph. iv. 26. 

TT is important to wait the moment of God to 
correct others. We may see real faults, but 
the person may not be in a state to profit by 
being told his faults. It is not wise to give 
more than one can receive. This is what I call 
preceding the light, — the light shines so far in 
advance of the person that it does not benefit 
him. Our Lord said to his apostles, I have many 
things to say to you, but you cannot bear them 
now. 

Madame Guyon. 

If at any time we are injured by others, and 
find feelings of ano;er arisins; in ourselves, we 
should ever be careful, before attempting to re- 
prove and amend them, to obtain a victory over 
our own hearts. Otherwise our reproofs, though 
fully deserved, and although it may be our duty 
to give them, will be likely to be in vain. 

T. C. Upham. 

We are sometimes moved with passion, and we 
think it to be zeal. 

Thomas a Kempis. 

(33°) 



November 26 



But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory 
through our Lord Jesus Christ, — i. Cor. xv. 57. 



T^ROM the way some people speak of physical 
difficulties, you would think that they were 
not merely the inevitable, which they are, but the 
insurmountable, which they are not. That they 
are physical, and not spiritual, is not only a great 
consolation, but a strong argument for overcoming 
them ; for all that is physical is put, or is in the 
process of being put, under the feet of the spirit- 
ual. Do not mistake me. I do not say you can 
make yourself feel merry, or happy, when you are 
in a physical condition which is contrary to such 
mental condition, but by practice and effort you 
can learn to withdraw from it, refusing to allow 
your judgments and actions to be ruled by it. . . . 
" What does that matter ? " you will learn to say. 
" It is enough for me to know that the sun does 
shine, and that this is only a weary fog that is 
round about me for the moment. I shall come 
out into the light beyond presently." This is 
faith — faith in God, who is the'Lifht. 

George MacDonald. 

(33 r ) 



November 27 



And every man that striveth for the mastery is 
temperate in all things. — I. Cor. ix. 25. 

TXTEMPERAXCE is not confined to the ex- 
cessive use of ardent spirits. There are those 
— and they are more numerous than is common ly 
imagined — who are intemperate in the use of 
food, and who thus pervert what was designed for 
the preservation and support of life, into the in- 
strument of its injury and destruction. . . . Let 
us guard, then, against all approaches to this 
vice. . . . The lightness of spirit, the cheerful- 
ness of heart, the serenity of temper, the alacrity 
of mind, the vigor of the understanding, the 
obedience of the will, the freedom from bad de- 
sires, and the propensity to good ones, which are 
the fruit of a prudent, judicious self-denial in the 
particular I have mentioned, are inconceivable 

by those who have not experienced them. 

Charles Lowell. 

Who keeps no guard upon himself, is slack, 
And rots to nothing at the next great thaw. 

Man is a shop of rules, a well trussed pack, 
Whose every parcel underwrites a law. 

Lose not thyself, nor give thy humors way! 

God ^ave them to thee under lock and key. 

George Herbert. 

(33 2 ) 



November 28. 

/ was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even 
from good, a?id my sorrow was stirred. — Ps. 
xxxix. 2. 

TT is a great art in the Christian life to learn 
to be silent. Under oppositions, rebukes, in- 
juries, still be silent. It is better to say nothing, 
than to speak in an excited or angry manner, even 
if the occasion should seem to justify a degree of 
anger. By remaining silent, the mind is enabled 
to collect itself, and to call upon God in secret 
aspirations of prayer. And thus you will speak 
to the honor of your holy profession, as well as to 
the good of those who have injured you, when you 
speak from God. 

T. C. Upham. 

Silence never shows itself to so srreat an advan- 
tage as when it is made the reply to calumny and 
defamation, provided that we give no just occasion 
for them. 

Addison. 

There are moments when silence, prolonged and unbroken, 
More expressive may be than all words ever spoken. 

Owen Meredith. 

(333) 



November 29. 



With all lowliness and meek?iess, with long suffer- 
ing* forbearing one another in love, — Eph. iv. 2. 

TT deserves notice that almost any one can be 
courteous and forbearing and patient in a 
neighbor's house. If anything 2:0 wrong, or be 
out of time, or disagreeable there, it is made the 
best of. not the worst ; even efforts are made to 
excuse it. and to show that it is not felt ; or if 
felt it is attributed to accident, not design : and 
this is not only easy, but natural in the house of 
a friend. I will not. therefore, believe that what 
is so natural in the house of another is impossible 
at home ; but maintain, without fear, that all the 
courtesies of social life may be upheld in domes- 
tic societies. A husband as willing to be pleased 
at home, and as anxious to please, as in his neigh- 
bor's house ; and a wife as intent on making 
things comfortable everv dav to her family as on 
set days to her guests, could not fail to make 
their own home happy. 

Be kind to each other ! 

The night's coming on, 
When friend and when brother 

Perchance may be gone. 

Charles Swain. 

(334) 



November 30. 



But be ye doers of the word, not hearers only, de- 
ceiving your awn selves. — James i. 22. 



ROTHER-MEN, one act of charity will teach 



us more of the love of God than a thousand 
sermons — one act of unselfishness, of real self- 
denial, the putting forth of one loving feeling to 
the outcast and " those who are out of the way " 
will tell us more of the meaning cf the Epiphany 
than whole volumes of the wisest writers on 
theolosw. 



For the conduct of life habits are more impor- 
tant than maxims, because a habit is a maxim 
verified. To take a new set of maxims for one's 
guide is no more than to change the title of a 
book ; but to change one's habits is to change 
one's life. Life is only a tissue of habits. 



Who keepeth not God's word ; yet saith, 

I know the Lord, is wrong; 
In him is not that blessed faith 

Through which the truth is strong ; 
But he who hears and keeps the word 

Is not of this world, but of God. 




F. W. Robertson. 



Amiel. 



C. F. Gellert. 



(335) 



December 1. 



Come 7 take tip the cross and follow me. — Mark 

X. 21. 

LONG illnesses sorely try the patience both of 
the sick man and of those around him. 
Long illnesses are a good schcol of compassion 
for those who nurse the sick, as also of loving 
patience for the sufferer. The first stand before 
the Cross, learning the lesson of tender sympathy, 
and the latter is, as it were, nailed to the Cross 
with our Lord, sharing in the agony of His pas- 
sion. How can we learn these precious lessons 
save by charity on both sides? Francis de Sales. 

Regard suffering, even in its slighter forms, as 
a vocation, having its special duties, and offering 
its special grace. Say secretly of it. " Here lies 
thy allotted task. O my soul!" Consider how 
much may be made of this period, how largely it 
may be improved to Gcd's service and thy salva- 
tion. It is the post to which thou art appointed: 
seek to occupy it faithfully and bravely : and 
more greed shall accrue to thee frcm it than from 
what thou didst propose to thyself as the line of 
service of thine own choosing. Dean Goulburn. 

When my heart was vex'd with care, 

Fill'd with fears well-nigh despair ; 

When, with watching many a night, 

On me fell pale sickness' blight ; 

When my courage fail'd me fast, 
Camest Thou, my God, at last, 
And my woes were quickly past. 

Pace Gerhardt. 

(336) 



December 2. 

Peace I leave with you, ?7iy peace I give unto you, 
-John xiv. 27. 



/^VUR energies are dissipated over a hundred 
aims, and warring wills and scattered powers 
permit not the peace of Christ. We can but wait 
and trust His promise, and, trusting it, never 
relax our effort toward that peace which shall be 
ours when we shall have but one aim, to do the 
will of God. 

Stopford A. Brooke. 



I do not ask, O Lord ! that Thou shouldst shed 

Full radiance here ; 
Give but a ray of Peace, that I may tread 

Without a fear. 
I do not ask my cross to understand, 

My way to see, — 
Better in darkness just to feel Thy Hand, 

And follow Thee. 
Joy is like restless day, but Peace Divine 

Like quiet night. 
Lead me, O Lord ! till perfect Day shall shine, 

Through Peace to Light. 

Adelaide Procter. 

(337) 



December 3. 

Keep thy heart with all diligence ; for out of it 
a?'e the issues of life. — Prov. iv. 23. 



A BOUT what am I now employing my own 
-^"a. soul ? On every occasion I must ask myself 
this question, and inquire, what have I now in 
this part of me which they call the ruling princi- 
ple ? and whose soul have I now ? that of a child, 
or of a young man, or of a feeble woman, or of a 
tyrant, or of a domestic animal, or of a wild 
beast ? Marcus Aurelius. 

Take strict heed to thy ways ; set a watch over 
thy actions ; and govern the thoughts of thy 
heart. Dorothea Dix. 



The human heart is like a millstone in a mill ; 
when you put wheat under it, it turns and grinds 
and bruises the wheat to flour ; if you put no 
wheat it still grinds on, but then 'tis itself it 
grinds and wears away. So the human heart, un- 
less it be occupied with some employment, leaves 
space for the devil, who wriggles himself in, and 
brings with him a whole host of evil thoughts, 
temptations, and tribulations, which grind out the 
heart. Luther. 



A millstone and the human heart are driven ever round ; 
If the)- have nothing else to grind, they must themselves be 
ground. 

Friedrich von Logau. 

(338) 



December 4. 



Let us not therefore judge oite another any more : 
but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling- 
block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. — 
Rom. xiv. 13. 

LET us remember that there is no greater stum- 
bling-block in the way of the reception of true 
religion . . . than the uncandid, untruthful, unjust, 
ungenerous deeds, and words, and tempers some- 
times seen among men who profess to be and 
who, in a certain sense, " are not of the world." 

Dean Stanley. 

An evil example is a spiritual poison : it is the 
proclamation of a sacrilegious faith. . . . Sin 
would be only an evil for him who commits it 
were it not a crime towards the weak brethren 
whom it corrupts. Amiel. 

It is a high, solemn, almost awful thought for 
every individual man, that his earthly influence, 
which has had a commencement, will never, 
through all ages, were he the very meanest of us, 
have an end ! What is done is done ; has al- 
ready blended itself with the boundless, ever 
living, ever working Universe, and will also work 
there, for good or for evil, openly or secretly, 
throughout all time. Carlyle. 

No act falls fruitless ; none can tell 

How vast its power may be, 
Nor what results infolded dwell 

Within it silently. 

(339) 



December 5. 



There is nothing from without a man, that, enter- 
ing into him, can defile him : but the things which 
come out of him, those are they that defile the man. — 
Mark vii. 15. 

MAN is the artificer of his own happiness. 
Let him beware how he complains of the 
disposition of circumstances, for it is his own dis- 
position he blames. If this be sour, or that rough, 
or the other steep, let him think if it be not his 
work. If his look curdles all hearts, let him not 
complain of a sour reception ; if he hobble in his 
gait, let him not complain of the roughness of the 
way ; if he is weak in his knees, let him not call 
the hill steep. This was the pith of the inscrip- 
tion on the wall of a Swedish inn, "You will find 
at Trolhate excellent bread, meat, and wine, pro- 
vided you bring them with you." 

H. D. Thoreau. 

For it is a very true saying that man's happi- 
ness lies within himself. The joys which Heaven 
bestows upon him only make him happy when 
thev are rightly used ; and the bitterness and sor- 
row which fate may allow him to experience, it is 
in his own power greatly to alleviate. 

Von Humboldt. 

Our heaven must be within ourselves, 
Our home and heaven the work of faith 
All through this race of life which shelves 
Downward to death. 

Christina G. Rossetti. 
(34o) 



December 6. 



Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters. — Isa. 
xxxii. 20. 

W remember Dr. N. Murray, the famous 
" Kirwan " of America, mentioning that in 
his youth he met an old disciple, ninety-one years 
of age ; and, in taking leave, the venerable pil- 
grim left with his young friend a charge, which 
he had never forgotten, " Do all the good you 
can, to all the people you can, in all the ways you 
can, and as long as you can." If that rule were 
carried out by each Christian, it would soon 
change the face of society. If you, who are the 
Christian member of the family, were setting a 
watch over your lips, and were in all things wise, 
gentle, obliging, self-denying, high-toned, few r in 
the household could withstand the quiet, persis- 
tent sermon ; and if the Christian households of 
the land were as peaceful as they are pure, — if 
the several inmates were fair-minded, kind-hearted, 
mutually helpful, . . . the synagogue of Satan 
would disappear from the land. 

James Hamilton. 

What hast thou wrought for Right and Truth, 

For God and Man, 
From the golden hours of bright-eyed youth 

To life's mid-span ? 

J. G. Whtttier. 

(341) 



December 7. 



For not he that commendeth himself is approved, 
but whom the Lo?'d commendeth, — n. Cor. x. 18. 

O PEAK not often of your own actions, nor even, 
^ when it can be properly avoided, make allu- 
sion to yourself, as an as:ent in transactions which 
are calculated to attract notice. We do not sup- 
pose, as some may be inclined to do, that fre- 
quent speaking of our actions is necessarily a 
proof of inordinate self-love or vanity ; but it 
cannot be denied that, by such a course, we ex- 
pose ourselves to temptations and dangers in 
that direction. It is much safer, and it is cer- 
tainly much more profitable, to speak of what has 
been done for us and wrought in us. . . . But 
even here, also, although it may often be an im- 
perative duty, there is need of deliberation and 
caution. T. C. Upham. 

Under all speech that is good for anything 
there lies a silence that is better. Silence is deep 
as eternity ; speech is shallow as time. 

Carlyle. 

Praise not thy work, but let thy work praise thee ; 

For deeds, not words, make each man's memory stable. 
If what thou dost is good, its good all men will see ; 

Musk by its smell is known, not by its label. 

Saadi, 

(342) 



December 8. 



Go work to-day in my vineyard. — Matt. 
xxi. 28. 

" T TP and be doing," is the word that comes 
^ from God to each of us. Leave some good 
work behind you that shall not be wholly lost 
when you have passed away. Do something 
worth living for, worth dving for ; do something 
to show that you have a mind, and a heart, and a 
soul within you. ... Is there no want, no sufrer- 

• ■* 7 

ing, no sorrow, that you can relieve ? Is there 
no act of tardy justice, no deed of cheerful kind- 
ness, no lo:ig forgotten duty that you can per- 
form ? Is there no reconciliation of some ancient 
quarrel, no payment of some long outstanding 
debt, no courtesy, or love, or honor to be rendered 
to those to whom it has long been due ? ... If 
there be any such, I beseech you, in God's name, 
in Christ's name, go and do it. 

Dean Stanley. 



No man in dailv life ought to be satisfied with 
what his life now is. He ought every day to be 
looking forward to some of the possible improve- 
ments. E. E. Hale. 

Up and away, like the odors of sunset, 
That sweeten the twilight as darkness comes on ; 
So be my life, — a thing felt but not noticed, 
And I but remembered by what I have done. 

H. BONAR. 



(343) 



December 9. 



Though I speak with the tongues of men and of 
angels, and have not charity^ I a?n beeo7?ie as sound- 
ing brass, or a tinkling cymbal. — i. Cor. xiii. i. 



THERE is no station in life where there is not 
a constant demand for the exercise of charity. 
We cannot be in company an hour with any per- 
son without some such demand presenting itself 
to us. The daily intercourse of life places it 
constantly in our power to make some person 
more or less happy than he now is, and accord- 
ingly as we may choose between these two modes 
of action we are fulfilling or setting aside the law 7 
of charity. . . . Many persons seem to suppose 
that charity consists entirely in alms-savins:, while 
this is only its lowest form. Kind deeds and 
kind words are as truly works of charity as pecu- 
niary rifts, and we do not lead liyes of charity 
unless we are as ready with those in the home 
circle and in our social relations as with these 
among the poor. 

Mary C. Ware. 



There's, many a gem in the path of life, 

Which we pass in our idle pleasure, 
That is richer far than the jewelled crown 

Or the miser's hoarded treasure ; 
It may be the love of a little child, 

Or the mother's prayer to Heaven 
Or only a beggar's grateful thanks, 

For a cup of water given. 

(344) 



December 10 



For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than 
our heart, and knoweth all things. — i. John 
iii. 20. 

"\ 1 7"HAT good or what evil have I done ? Have 



I injured or afflicted any one ? Is there 
no one weeping under the wrongs I have done 
him ? Is there no poor unfortunate person whom 
I might have relieved, and to whom I have re- 
fused assistance ? No feeble creature, no sinner, 
whose frailties and faults I ought to have borne 
with ; whose amendment I should have tried by 
fraternal remonstrances to have effected ; and 
whom, instead of this, I have made to feel the 
effects of my anger and wrath ? Is there no one 
in low condition whom I have treated with 
haughtiness, no timid and modest person whom I 
have tyrannized over and oppressed ? Is there 
no one who, at this moment, is lamenting my con- 
duct towards him ? Have I judged no one with 
too much severity, and reproached no one un- 
justly ? . . . I will do what I can to repair the 
injury. I will not be ashamed to acknowledge 
my fault and correct it, were it my inferior, my 
servant, or the lowest person upon earth that I 
have injured. ... . . O God ! confirm me in this 

purpose, and give me strength to execute it. 




G. J. ZOLLIKOFER. 



(345) 



December 11. 



My times are in thy hand, — Ps. xxxi. 15, 
T TE make our standard of important duties, 



and judge conditions and opportunities by 
it. I do not believe in this : I do not believe in 
the responsibility of one station over another, nor 
in the importance of one class of duties over 
another. One person is no more useful than an- 
other, provided that each is a living soul, living 
the life that is in him. There may be drones, 
indeed, those who imprison God's light by walls 
of self, and ease, and habit : but for every living 
soul there is an infinite activity. . . . To do the 
highest we know and feel. - — not to choose what 
to do that is our own will, but to do our highest, 
and of all that God has given us, impulse, feeling, 
thought, conviction, capacity, to lose nothing, but 
to evolve out of it the element of immortality it 
embodies, for we are not our own, nor at our own 
disposal, but recipients of spirit, and its children, 
or heroes, or martyrs, as the case may be. 




Eliza T. Clapp. 



Only an atom of the whole : 
The atom goes as it is sent. 

Into this Me the Over-Soul 

Pours of its wealth of vast content. 



1346) 



December 12. 



Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather 
give place unto wrath ; for it is written, Vengeance 
is mine ; I will repay, saith the Lord. — Rom. 
xii. 19. 

HHHINK how often you have been mistaken ; 

how often you may be mistaken yet again. 
Think how, in the warmth of your own better 
feelings, your hard and cold heart has melted, and 
you may fairly hope and believe that the same 
genial warmth will spread towards whom it is 
directed ; and many a proud spirit that would 
have long met scorn with scorn, and hate with 
hate, will be bowed down to the dust by one kind 
word ; many a hard heart will be melted down by 
the morsel of bread and the cup of cold water, 
that would have resisted a whole furnace of angry 
invectives. This is the true Christian vengeance, 
the true Christian victory over those who wrong 
or offend us. Chaiity no less than honesty is the 
best policy, and also the noblest revenge. 

Dean Stanley. 

Peace is more strong than war, and gentleness, 

Where force were vain, makes conquest o'er the wave ; 

And love lives on, and hath a power to bless, 
When they who loved are hidden in the grave. 

J. R. Lowell. 

(347) 

l 



December 13, 



Watch ye a?id pray lest ye e7iter into temptation. 
The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. — 
Mark xiv. 38. 

ET every man study his prayers and read his 
duty in his petitions. For the body of our 
prayer is the sum of our duty ; and as we must 
ask of God whatsoever we need, so we must labor 
for all that we ask. 

Jeremy Taylor. 

Prayers that God will make us better are 

utterly nugatory unless we resolve, while offering 

them, to do all we can to become so. . . . A 

course of action not wholly upright or honorable, 

feelings not entirely kind and loving, habits not 

spotlessly chaste and temperate, — any of these 

are impassable obstacles. We must thrust them 

aside, or give up prayer till God's loving severity 

forces us to renounce them. 

Frances Power Cobbe. 

Oh, watch and fight and pray ! 

The battle ne'er give o'er; 
Renew it boldly every day, 

And help divine implore. 

George Heath. 

(348) 



December 14. 



If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself. 
Prov. ix. 12. 



EVER ask another to fulfil a duty for love's 



sake, but for the sake of right. Love is 
broad, but right glorifies it, and in every act of 
affection there should be a foundation of right. 
Parents and children, brothers and sisters, and 
friends, should never appeal to each other to re- 
mit any of the individuality of each with the 
words, " for my sake." Give it up if it is right, 
retain it if it is right. There are, however, ques- 
tions of expediency which often must be settled 
for the young by an appeal to their affection. 
Only by development of the moral and intel- 
lectual nature, of mechanical skill and of religious 
trust, can all sides of the individual be rounded 
into that graceful freedom of action which leaves 
to others as much space as it demands for itself. 



How happy is he born and taught 

That serveth not another's will, 
Whose armor is his honest thought, 

And simple truth his utmost skill. 

Sir Henry Wotton 




Kate Gannett Wells. 



(349) 



December 15. 

All things are lawful for me, but all things are 
71 ot expedient. — i. Cor. x. 23. 

A MUSEMENT is not an end, but a means — 
a means of refreshing the mind and replen- 
ishing the strength of the body ; when it begins 
to be the principal thing for which one lives, or 
when, in pursuing it, the mental powers are en- 
feebled and the bodily health impaired, it falls 
under just condemnation. Amusements that 
consume the hours which ousfht to be sacred to 
sleep are, therefore, censurable. Amusements 
that call us away from work which we are bound 
to do are pernicious, just to the extent to which 
they cause us to be neglectful or unfaithful. 
Amusements that rouse or stimulate morbid ap- 
petites or unlawful passions, or that cause us to be 
restless or discontented, are always to be avoided. 

Washington Gladden. 

Not that he may not here 
Taste of the cheer. 
But as birds drink, and straight lift up their head, 
So must he sip and think 
Of better drink 
He may attain to after he is dead, 

George Herbert. 

(35°) 



December 16. 



This do in remembrance of me. — Luke xxii. 19. 

"\70U are going to celebrate the birthday of a 
dear friend. You do so by making a great 
feast in vour own family, and distributing among: 
them costly presents. Your friend, whose birth- 
day you celebrate, is not even invited to be 
present. What a curious way of celebrating his 
birthday ! This you have been doing for many 
years, and you are teach, g your children to do 
the same. Will you not make this year different? 
Instead of the hours spent in useless ''fancy work " 
for friends already overburdened with such arti- 
cles, can you not spend the same time in making 
some clothes for those little scantily clad children 
whose hard-worked mother has neither time nor 
money enough to care for them ? Instead of the 
costly vases, the perfumery, the bric-a-brac, can 
you not substitute a pretty card, an affectionate 
note to your friend, and fill that empty larder, 
and put a blanket on that thinly covered bed for 
one of Christ's poor? Then, indeed, you can 
feel that you are celebrating Christmas in the 
spirit, and for the love of Christ. 

" Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least, — 
Ye have done it unto me." 

(35O 



December 17. 



But to do go^d and to conwiunicate forget not, for 
with such sacrifices God is well pleased. — Heb. 
xiii. 1 6. 

A RT thou sufficiently alive to benevolent affec- 
^ tions ? Is thy hand filled for the poor, and 
Hoes it open to the needy who lack bread ? Art 
thou a comforter to the mourner — a benefactor 
tu those who have known better days ? Do thy 
ministrations attend at the couch of disease ; and 
doth thy care smooth the pillow of suffering ? 
Art thou a companion of those who devise good ? 
Dost thou ever look into the lone cell of the 
prisoner ? . . . Dost thou draw him gently back 
to a love of virtue and of God? ... If thou 
hast done none of these things, then art thou far 
from the kingdom of heaven. 

Dorothea Dix. 

Remain not folded in thy pleasant joys, 
Within the narrow circle of thy walls, 
Content if thine are blessed. Cold is thy fire, 
If on thy hearth-stone only ; and thy bread 
Bitter, which feeds alone thy selfish blood ; 
Thy house a prison, if it hold thy world, 
Thy heaven a fiction. 

F. R. Abbe. 

(352) 



December 18. 



In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening 
withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not 
whether shall prosper either this or that, or whether 
they both shall be alike good. — Eccl. xi. 6, 

/~^00D deeds are very fruitful. Out of one 



good action of ours, God produces a thou- 
sand ; the harvest whereof is perpetual. If good 
deeds were utterly barren and incommodious, I 
would seek after them from a consciousness of 
their own goodness ; how much more shall I now 
be encouraged to perform them, that they are so 
profitable both to myself and others ! 



Our deeds are like children that are born to 
us ; they live and act apart from our own will. 
Nay, children may be strangled, but deeds never: 
they have an indestructible life both in and out of 
our own consciousness, 




Bishop Hall. 



George Eliot. 



Scorn not the slightest word or deed, 
Nor deem it void of power ; 

There's fruit in each wind-wafted seed, 
That waits its natal hour. 



(353) 



December 19. 



He that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, 
how can he love God, whom he hath not seen ? — 
i. John iv. 20. 

]\JO one can do without his brethren, or is suffi- 
cient by himself ; no one can be exclusively 
happy. Subjected to the same wants, we are 
united by a variety of ties. . . . And shall I not 
love beings so closely connected with me, and 
who resemble me in so many things ? Shall I be 
cold and indifferent in respect to them ? . . . Shall 
I not know them when I meet them in the garb of 
indigence and the tatters of poverty ? Shall I be 
ashamed of being their relation, their companion, 
their brother ? . . . Can I, especially, sustain the 
character of a Christian, if I am not actuated by 
a sincere and generous affection for all men ? Is 
not the whole of Christianity summed up in love ? 
. . . " By this," says Christ, " shall all men know 
that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another." 

G. J. ZOLLIKOFER. 

Oh, ye who taste that love is sweet, 
Set way marks for all doubtful feet 

J 

That stumble 011 in search of it. 

Lead life of love; that others who 
Behold vour life may kindle too 
With love, and cast their lot with you. 

Christina G. Rossetti. 
(354) 



December 20, 



And cc/iv call ve me Lord, Lord, and do not the 
things which L say ? — Luke vi, 46. 

T DO not ask. nor does any one ask. for this 
form or that of work in charity. But I do 
ask. because God demands, unselfish life some- 
where in His service. His will be done ! Not 
yours ; not mine. And when you tell me that 
communion with God seems vague, and that 
heaven seems distant, you only tell me what the 
Son of God best beloved told vou 10112: a^o. He 
told you it was not enough to repeat his sayings, 
but that you muse do as he dicl. He told you 
that vou would not enter the kingdom, unless vou 
enlisted in God's service. That is the whole of 
the " Follow me." And the man who makes his 
own comfort and ease his first object in this life 
pavs for that ease and comfort bv this heavv 
sacrifice. — that he begins, perhaps, to doubt with 
Mr. Mallock whether life is worth living, and to 
doubt with Mr. Spencer whether he have any 
hope of a life be von d. 

E. E. Hale. 

Wait not anv longer 

Thy work to begin ; 
By work we grow stronger, 

Be steadfast and win. 

Thomas Hill. 

(355) 



December 21. 



And your joy no man taketh from, you, - — John 
xvi. 22. 

/^HRISTMAS is almost here again. Don't be 
satisfied with sending five or ten dollars to 
the Mission School or the Associated Charities, 
for some one else to spend for you. You are 
going in the city to-day, to-morrow, and you will 
spend hours choosing presents for those who 
have so much it is difficult to think of anything 
to add to their store. Take one hour and choose 
something for that poor relative you've neglected 
of late; for your cook's crippled brother; or for 
that hard-working seamstress who is trying to 
support her parent or child. It won't be difficult 
to choose for them, there are so many things they 
need, and your gift, chosen by yourself, and 
kindly sent, will be gratefully remembered for 
many a long day ; while the present you spend 
hours in selecting for your wealthy friend, or 
your surfeited child, will be forgotten, or laid 
aside in a week. 

From the low prayer of want, and plaint of woe, 

O never, never turn away thine ear ! 
Forlorn in this bleak wilderness of woe, 

Ah ! what were man, should Heaven refuse to hear ? 

Beattie. 

(356) 



December 22 



Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his 
benefits, — Ps. ciii. 2. 

"\ \ TE receive everything, both life and happi- 
ness ; but the manner in which we receive, 
this is what is still ours. Let us then receive 
trustfully, without shame or anxiety. . . . And 
let us never be afraid of innocent joy ; God is 
good, and what He does is well done ; resign 
yourself to everything, even to happiness ; ask 
for the spirit of sacrifice, of detachment, of renun- 
ciation, and, above all, for the spirit of joy and 
gratitude — that genuine and religious optimism 
which sees in God a father, and asks no pardon 
for His benefits. We must dare to be happy, and 
dare to confess it, regarding ourselves always as 
the depositaries, not as the authors, of our own 
joy. 

Amiel, 

He knows when joyful hours are best, 
He sends them as He sees it meet ; 

When thou hast borne the fiery test, 
And art made free from all deceit, 

He comes to thee all unaware, 

And makes thee own His loving care. 

Neumarck, 

(357) 



December 23. 



I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, 
and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. — 
Ps. cxix. 75. 

TT is not enough to accept God's will generally ; 

we must accept it in every circumstance and 
detail. We must not only be ready to be ill, if it 
pleases God to send sickness, but we must accept 
that form of illness, in that place and time, and 
among those people, which God shall order. 
The one measure to us must be His most holy 
will. Blessed indeed is he who can say from the 
bottom of his heart : " As Thou wilt, and how 
Thou wilt." Francis de Sales. 

While we admit the duty of ever bearing the 
cross, we are to remember that we must bear it 
just where God sees fit to impose it upon us, 
without assuming the responsibility of either seek- 
ing or shunning it. We shall find that God has 
placed it in the whole course of our life at pre- 
cisely the right place ; and all he requires of us 
is to bear it with a faithful heart when we meet it. 

T. C. Upham. 

Lie still, my restive heart, lie still : 
God's word to thee saith, " Wait and bear." 
The good which He appoints is good, 
The good which He denies were ill : 
Yea, subtile comfort is thy care, 
Thy hurt a help not understood. 

Christina G. Rossetti. 

(358) 



December 24, 



For whosoever shall give you a cup of cold water 
to drink i?i my name, because ye belong to Christ, 
verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward, 
— Mark ix. 41. 



HARACTER, happiness, salvation, depend 



not on the amount of what we do, but upon 
the dispositions and motives that prompt our con- 
duct : and these appear in our most insignificant 
acts, as well as in our most imposing undertak- 
ings. A pure motive, a noble disposition, can be 
expressed as forcibly in giving a cup of cold 
w r ater as in the conveyance of a rich estate. It 
can be shown forth as truly in a word of kind 
counsel as in the publication of volumes of wis- 
dom. It can be illustrated as strongly in defend- 
ing the right in a small neighborhood as in advo- 
cating a holy cause in the councils of the nation. 
To the eye of the Infinite One, it may seem 
clothed even more beautifully in a quiet, un- 
noticed deed, whose performance by the right 
hand is not known by the left, than in a proud 
achievement, whose praise rings the world over. 




C. A. Bartol. 




December 25. 



Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 
good-will toward men, — Luke ii. 14. 

n^HE face of Christmas glows all the brighter 
for the cold. The heart warms as the frost 
increases. Estrangements which have embittered 
the whole year melt in to-night's hospitable smile. 
Friend lives in the mind of friend. There is more 
charity at this time than at any other. . . . The 
Master's words, "The poor ye have always with 
you," wear at this time a deep significance. For 
at least one night in each year over all Christen- 
dom there is brotherhood. And good men. sit- 
ting amongst their families, or bv a solitary. fire, 
when thev remember the light that shone on the 
Bethlehem plains eighteen hundred years ago, 
. . . the song, " Peace on earth and good-will 
toward men," which for the first time hallowed 
the midnight air, — pray for that strain's fulfil- 
ment, that battle and strife mav vex the nations 
no more, that not only on Christmas eve, but the 
whole vear round, men shall be brethren, owning 
one Father in heaven. Alexander Smith. 

The time draws near the birth of Christ, 
The moon is hid; the night is still ; 
The Christmas bells from hill to hill 

Answer each other in the mist. 

Tennyson. 

(360) 



December 26. 



Whereas ye know not what shall be on the mor- 
row. — James iv. 14. 

T ET not future things disturb thee, for thou 
wilt come to them, if it shall be necessary, 
having with thee the same reason which now thou 
usest for present things. 

Marcus Aurelius. 



c< I feel myself," said Eckermann ; " gradually 
leaving my ideal and theoretic tendencies, and 
more and more able to appreciate the value of the 
present moment." " Only persist in this," said 
Goethe, "and hold fast by the preseiit. Every sit- 
uation — nav. every moment — is of infinite value, 
for it is the representative of a whole eternity." 

What else does anxiety about the future brins; 
thee but sorrow upon sorrow ? 

Thomas a Kempis. 



The Present, the Present is all thou hast 

For thy sure possessing ; 
Like the patriarch's angel hold it fast 

Till it gives its blessing. 

J, G. Whittier. 

(36O 



December 27. 

Whosoever liveth and believeth in vie shall never 
die. — John xi. 26. 



T^HOSE who have passed out of the family cir- 
cle into the world beyond the grave are, in 
God's sight, and before our own hearts, still one 
with us. Whosoever it be that we have so lost, — 
wife or child, or brother or sister, or mother or 
father, — they still call upon us through them, by 
what we cherish and know of them, to remember 
that their wishes and their hopes for us are not 
buried in their graves, but will continue as long 
as our own immortal souls.. . . . The good 
thoughts, the good deeds, the good memories of 
those who have been the salt and the light of the 
earth do not perish with their departure — they 
live on still ; and those who have wrought them 
live in them. 

Dean Stanley. 



God calls our loved ones, but we lose not wholly 

What He hath given ; 
They live on earth in thought and deed as truly 

As in his heaven. 

J. G. Whittier. 

(362) 



December 28. 



Love . . . seeketh not her own. — i. Cor. xiii. 5. 

LOVE is active, sincere, affectionate, pleasant, 
and amiable ; courageous, patient, faithful, 
prudent, long-suffering, manly, and never seeking 
itself. For in whatever instance a person seeketh 
himself, there he falleth from love. 

Thomas a Kempis. 

Therefore, come what may, hold fast to love. 
Though men should rend vour heart, let them not 
embitter or harden it. We win by tenderness ; 
we conquer by forgiveness. Oh, strive to enter 
into something of that large, celestial charity 
which is meek, enduring, imretaliatirig, and which 
even the overbearing world cannot withstand for- 
ever. F. W. Robertson. 

O Love is weak 
Which counts the answers and the gains, 
Weighs all the losses and the pains, 
And easterly each fond word drains 

A joy to seek. 

When love is strong 
It never tarries to take heed, 
Or know if its return exceed 
Its gift; in its sweet haste no greed, 

No strifes belong. 

So much we miss 
If love is weak, so much we gain 
If love is strong, God thinks no pain 
Too sharp or lasting to ordain 

To teach us this. 

H. H. 



(363) 



December 29. 



Let 7/s labor therefore to e?iter i?ito that rest, — 
Heb. iv. ii. 

TTHAT is a joy which cannot be fulfilled at 
once. There is no absolute peace for us till 
we have fought our battle and conquered lies ; 
but a part of it may become ours, and even now, 
as we grow older, more of it belongs to us year 
by year. Some things have been settled. Some 
faiths have become inwoven in our being. Some 
false things, some errors, have been exhausted 
and thrown by. Some doubts can never occur 
again. Christ is at the helm of the ship of life, 
and we know that, after a little while more of the 
tempest, we shall furl our sail and drop our an- 
chor in the harbor of the Truth of God. Then 
shall we be glad because we are at rest — at one 
with the Truth at last. 

Stopford A. Brooke. 

The Shadow of the Rock ! 
To weary feet, 
That have been diligent and fleet, 
The sleep is deeper and the shade more sweet. 
O weary, rest ! 
Thou art sore pressed — 
Rest in the Shadow of the Rock ! 

F. W. Faber. 

(364) 



December 30. 



Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the 
days of my life, — Ps. xxiii. 6. 



ONE of us can take any year or day, or even 



hour, and pronounce it perfect. But as we 
look over the whole, we see that a general pur- 
pose of good overspreads it, and also that its gen- 
eral outcome is good. Its tendency has been to 
make us wiser, steadier, more patient and sym- 
pathetic, more obedient to law, more content 
with the things that are, and more hopeful. It is 
also well to see how one feature or experience 
of life plays usefully into another, how limitation 
works toward freedom, how a sickness or any 
other setback contributes to some large good. . . . 
One part of life feeds another ; hence we must 
not weigh its parts, but the whole. 




T. T. Munger. 



I will not doubt the love untold 

Which not my worth nor want hath bought, 
Which wooed me young and wooes me old, 

And to this evening hath me brought. 



H. D. Thoreau. 



(365) 



December 31. 



I will that thou affirm constantly that they which 
have believed in God might be careful to maintain 
good works. — Titus iii, 8. 

TT is because we think that the pulpit too little 
addresses itself to small duties and homely 
trials ; that it soars too exclusively among doc- 
trines and the principles of conduct, that we have 
been anxious to press home upon our readers the 
cultivation of Personal Religion in that sphere 
which lies immediately under their hands. And 
now, in sounding this note for the last time, we 
still feel how deeply important it is that it should 
be made to vibrate long and loud in the memory 
of the reader, how it is almost impossible that we 
can attach too much importance to such particu- 
lars of duty as improvement of time, control of 
temper, watchfulness in conversation, restraint of 
appetite, . . . and gentle bearing of disappoint- 
ments. 

Dean Goulburn. 

Out of the twilight of the past, 

We move to a diviner light. 
For nothing that is wrong can last ; 

Nothing's immortal but the right. 

(366) 



INDEX OF AUTHORS. 



Abbe, Frederick R., 3, 231, 352. 
Addison, Joseph, 65,-314,315, 333. 
Amiel, Henri Frederic, 4, 3S, 39, 

5 2 , 75) io 5> 125, 174, 204, 240, 

279> 332, 308, 329, 335, 339, 357. 
Anselm, Saint, 154. 
Arnold, Sir Edwin, 31. 
Arnold, Matthew, 21, 106, 144, 31S. 
Augustine, Saint, 211. 
Aureiius, Marcus (Antoninus), 35, 

115, 164, 193, 208, 212, 277, 278, 

303, 338, 361. 

Bacox, Francis, Lord, 80. 
Bailey, Philip James, 53, 129. 
Barbauld, Anna Laetitia, 200. 
Bartol, Cyrus Augustine, 3, 41, 67, 

138, 176, 184, 220, 232, 301, 307, 

359- 

Battles, Amory, 37. 
Beattie, James, 356. 
Beecher, Henrv Ward, 216, 265. 
Bliss, J. EL, 1. 

Bonar, Horatius, 70, 85, in, 164, 
180, 202, 265, 343. 

Bownng, Sir John, 152, 313. 

Boyd, Andrew Kennedy Hutchin- 
son, 23, 56, 81, 150, 160, 207. 

Brainerd, Mary G., 19. 

Bremer, Frederika, 45. 

Brooke, Stopford A., 34, 63, 113, 
126, 172, 213, 236, 249, 274, 337, 
364- 

Brooks, Phillips, 14, 85, 122, 139, 

195, 210, 214, 272, 296. 
Browne, Sir Thomas, 65, 304. 
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 12S, 

213, 285-, 303. 

3 6 7 



Browning, Robert, 15, 139, 142, 
249-. 

Burleigh, William Henry, 36. 
Bushnell, Horace, 159, 202, 270. 

Carlyle, Thomas, 43, 63, 105, 

162, 1S3, 303, 339, 342. 
Caswall, Edward, 20. 
Channing, William Ellen*, 133, 

1.43, 265, 293. 
Child, Lydia Maria, 52, 248. 
Cicero, Marcus Tullius, 65, 283. 
Clapp, Eliza Thayer, 106, 130, 147, 

1785 i^5> i94i 205, 215, 229, 242, 

257, 269, 2S0, 284, 313, 346. 
Clarke, James Freeman, 36, 72, 

128, 161, 171, 187, 263, 295. 
Clough, Arthur Hugh, 16, 209. 
Cobbe, Frances Power, 11, 170, 

290, 348. 

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, n, 137. 
Collingwood, Cuthbert, Lord, 33. 
Conder, Josiah, 76, 215. 
Coolidge, Susan, see Woolsey, 

^arah Channing. 
Cowper, William, 78, 253. 
Coxe, Arthur Cleveland, 5. 
Crosby, Howard, 304. 
Cross, Marian Evans, 22, 99, 163, 

183, 188, 212, 231, 253, 298, 353. 
Cural (Hindu), 18S. 

Dale, R. W. , 245, 259, 292. 

Davis, Thomas, 50. 

Delaune, Henry, 163. 

Dix, Dorothea, 29, 59, 98, 14S, 156, 

167, 190, 338, 352. 
Doddridge, Philip, 86, 14S, 199. 



368 INDEX OF 



Dole, Charles Fletcher, 12, 62, 166. 

Dowden, Edward, 222. 

Dodge, Mary Abigail, 7, 91, 116, 

2S7, 312. 
Dyer, Sir Edward, 159. 

ECKERM ANN, JOHANN PETER, 
361 . 

Eliot, George, see Cross, Marian 
Evans. 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 19, 37, 
43, 49, SS, 1S0, 211, 229, 253, 303. 
Epictetus, 19, 35, 132. 
Erasmus, Desiderius, 260. 

Faber, Frederick William, 

i°S, 157, 3&4- 
Farrar, Frederick William, 54, 124, 

152, 177, 221, 226. 
Flemming, Paul, 216. 
Foster, John, 217. 
Francis de Sales, 192, 211, 219, 320, 

336, 35 s - 
Franklin, Benjamin, 100. 

Gannett, William C, 7, 25, 92, 

142, 270, 275.^ _ 
Gasparin, Valerie Boissier, Com- 

tesse de, 252. 
Gellert, C. F. 335. 
Geibcl, Emanuel, 267. 
Gerhardt, Paul, 90, 336. 
Gladden, Washington, 24, 62, 117, 

26S, 350. 

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 

126, 137, 361. 
"Golden Sands," 20, 40, 82, 118, 

135, 16S, 193, 202, 233, 250, 20S, 

287. 

Goulburn, Edward Meyrick, 47, 

9°>. I 34, i7°» 200, 2S9, 336, 366. 
Guerin, Eugenie de, 50, 15S, 245, 

329- 

Guyon, Jeanne Bouvier de la 
Motte, 223, 286, 330. 

H. H., see Jackson, Helen Hunt. 
Hale, Edward Everett, 5, 57, 86, 

119, 149, 173, 201, 237, 255, 266, 

276, 343, 355- 



AUTHORS. 



Hale, Sarah Josepha, 1S2. 

Hall, Joseph, 2, 9, 32, 1S9, 254, 

264, 273, 278, 353. 
Hall, Louisa Jane, 162. 
Hamilton, Gail, see Dodge. Mary 

Abigail. 
Hamilton, James, 273, 341. 
Hanway, Jonas, 71. 
Havergal, Frances Ridley, 26, 53, 

84, 97, 131, 201, 220, 240, 241. 
Hawes, Joel, 69, 144, 180, 311, 317. 
Hayati (Persian), 218. 
Helps, Sir Arthur, 18, 10 1, 131, 

1 88, 279. 
Henry, Matthew, 87, 94. 
Herbert, George, 69, 88, 171, 175, 

183, 238, 274, 316, 329, 332, 348, 

35°- 

Herford, Brooke, 151. 
Herrick, Robert, 72. 
Hill, Thomas, 25, 355. 
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1S3. 
Hooper, Ellen Sturgis, 105. 
Hosmer, F. L., 269. 
Humboldt, Wilhelmvon, 10S, 159, 

252, 3*9> 340. 
Huntington, Frederic D., 55, 73, 
§9, 95, i2*i !55> 230, 282, 285, 
316. 

Irving, Washington, 71. 

Jackson, Helen Hunt, 41, 217, 

232, 363. 
James, John Angell, 94. 
Jex-Blake, Thomas W., 154. 
Johnson, Samuel, 63. 
Jones, Jenkin Lloyd, no, 300. 

Kant, Emmanuel, 46. 

Keble, John, 35, 226, 272, 32S. 

Kempis, Thomas a, 6, 21, 42, 66, 
112, 114, 137, 164, 192, 193, 194, 
266, 267, 283, 292, 306, 314, 319, 

^324, 330, 361, 363- 
Ken, Thomas, 190. 
Kidder, Mrs. M. A., 301. 
King, Starr, 13, 51, 76, 120, 238, 

_25S, 291, 328. 
Kingsley, Charles, 153, 242. 



INDEX OF 



Lampertius, 23, 244.. 

Landon, Letitia Elizabeth, 40. 

Larcom, Lucy, 17, 195, 230, 295. 

Logau, Friedrich von, 338. 

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 
67/89, 98, 147, 193, 28S, 311. 

Longfellow, Samuel, 207. 

Lowell, Charles, 84, 87, 103, 332. 

Lowell, James Russell, 1, 4, 6, 42, 
48, 52, 61, 74, 79, 102, 104, 117, 
125, 130, 133, 143, *5?> 160, 169, 
189, 198, 2o5, 228, 233, 250, 2S4, 
290, 291, 312, 317, 322, 347. 

Lubbock, Sir John, 27, 39, 77, 179, 
243> 24S, 319. 

Luther, Martin, 197, 338. 

Lynch, Thomas Toke, 93. 

Lyte, Henry Francis, 51. 

Lytton, Earl, 333. 

MacDonald, George, 83, 183, 

289, 311, 315, 331. 
Mahomet, 26. 
Mant, Richard, 49, 165. 
Martineau, James, 112. 
Means, C. A., 13. 
Menander, 101. 
Milton, John, 261. 
Meredith, Owen, see Lytton, Earl. 
Molinos, Miguel, 310. 
More, Hannah, 7, 27, 146, 256. 
Montgomery, fames, 73, 246. 
MozoomdAr, P. C, 30, 58, 97, 129, 

203, 239, 282, 319. 
M linger, Theodore Thornton, 8, 

96, 140, 165, 19S, 225, 234, 246, 

294, 3°3, 365. 

Neumarck, George, 8r, 357. 
Newman, lohn Henry, 320. 
Newton, John, 281. 

Oberltn, Jean Frederic, 191. 

Omar Khayyam, 306. 

Osgood, Frances Sargent, 30, 254. 

Parsons, Theophilus, 256. 
Peabody, W. B. O., 46, 272 
Piatt, John James, 22, 187. 
Plutarch, 218, 261, 304 
Pope, Alexander, 141. 



AUTHORS. 369 



Prentiss, Elizabeth Payson, 136. 
Procter, Adelaide Anne, 18, 28, 

123, 126, 165, 176, 1S6, 224, 236, 

24S, 257, 277, 337. 

Quarles, Francis, 218. 

Rathbone, William, Jr., 193. 
Richter, Jean Paul Friedrich, 108. 
Robertson, Frederick William, 22, 

43, 53, i39, 165, 186, 259,335, 363. 
Rossetti, Christina Georgina, 38, 

55, 181, 1S5, 196, 223, 280, 299, 

34o, 354, 35S. 
Roux. Joseph, 283. 
Ruskin, John, 10, 156. 

Saadi, 342. 

Savage, Minot Judson, 78, 107. 
Schiller, Friedrich von, 8. 
Scott, Sir Walter, 321. 
Scudder, Eliza, 145. 
Sears, Edmund Hamilton, 111, 

145, 191, 244, 262, 323, 325. 
Shakespeare, William, 314. 
Sheldon, Ellen H., 216. 
Shipton, Anna, 307. 
Shorthouse, Joseph Henry, 16. 
Smiles, Samuel, 127, 182, 197,208, 

26r, 275, 297. 
Smith, Alexander, 360. 
Smith, Sydney, 27, 100, 163, 248, 

286. 

Smith, William Boone, 102, 322. 
Smith, William Wye, 63, 70. 
Socrates, 141, 143. 
South, Robert, 44. 
South°:ate, Charles M. 224. 
Spaulding, Susan M., 119. 
Stanley, Arthur Penrhyn, 4, 48, 

79, io 4, 157, 182, 197, 199, 206, 

209, 241, 243, 254, 261, 339, 343, 

347, 3^2. 
Steele, Anne, 309. 
Stevenson, Robert Louis, 77. 
Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 57, 177, 

261. 

Sutton, Henry Septimus, 14, 179. 
Swam, Charles, 71, 334. 
Swift, Jonathan, 100. 



370 INDEX OF 



Tarbox, Increase N., 80. 

Tauler, Joharin, 28. 

Taylor, Jane, 304. 

Taylor, Jeremy, 42, 74, 132, 175, 

222, 231, 348. 
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, 54, 120, 

161, 247, 279, 360. 
Tersteegen, Gerhard, 158. 
Thoreau, Henry David, 49, 25S, 

340, 365. 

Tolstoi, Count L., 15, 66, 109, 271. 

Tomlinson, D. C.,38. 

Trench, Richard Chenevix, 94, 96, 

i55> 273, 2S2. 
Turberville, George, 82. 

Upham, Thomas Cogswell, 60, 
83, 95> 99, "4, 123, 136, 181, 189, 
199, 226, 271, 321, 330, 333, 342, 

Vaughan, Henry, 150. 
Very, Jones, 2, 93, 124, 156, 174, 
209. 

Vibbert, George H., 31. 



AUTHORS. 



Ware, Mary Chandler, 264, 
267, 298, 305, 309, 318, 324, 344. 

Watson, Emma S., 243, 2S6. 

Watts, Isaac, 206. 

Waring, Anna Laetitia, 45, 47, 60, 
103, 135, 227. 

Wells, Kate Gannett, 17, 235, 247, 
326, 349. 

Wesley, Charles, 33, 39. 

West, Beatrice, 204. 

Whately, Richard, 44. 

Whitney, Adeline D. T., 61. 

Whittier, John Greenleaf, 10, 12, 
24, 34, 64, 75, 109, 113, 118, 166, 
168, 172, 184, 212, 234, 245, 256, 
293, 302, 30S, 314, 341, 361, 362. 

Williams, Isaac, 9. 

Woolsey, Sarah Charming, 32. 

Wordsworth, William, 92, 127, 149, 
i53, 203^ 239, 263, 276. 

Wotton, Sir Henry, 349. 

Zoi.LIKOFER, GEORG JOACHIM, 

227, 251, 260, 281, 299, 327, 345, 
354- 



TOPICAL INDEX. 



Adversity, 14, 42, 58, 84, 108, 128, 
176, 196, 202, 232, 246, 258, 279, 
298, 307, 3*4, 324, 327, 336, 35S. 

Anger, 33, 7i, 132, 175, 20S, 231, 
330. 

Animals, kindness to, 11, 78, 92, 
173, 275, 323. 

Aspiration, 1, 47, 51, 69, 103, 119, 
129, 130, 148, 152, 100, 161, 16S, 
190, 191, 213, 242, 280, 318, 343. 

Belief, 15, 19, 23, 51, 53, 57, 62, 
89, 96, 97, 103, io7> in, 113, 121, 
15S, 161, 171, 204, 207, 209, 215, 
217, 221, 223, 227, 244, 247, 281, 
308, 315, 331, 337, 365. 

Benevolence, 11, 26, 27, 34, 46, 78, 
91, 92, 120, 173, 195, 198,212, 
225, 272, 352. 

Birdf and Bonnets, 92, 275. 

Blessedness, 162, 221. 

Character, 48, 69, 127, 253, 267, 
305, 30;- 

Cheerfulness, 7, 71, 77, 188, 248, 
286, 357. 

Contentment, 9, 19, 23, 35, 56, 58, 
60, 68, 81, 155, 159, 160, 164, 208, 
220, 227, 232, 269, 273, 278, 283, 
285, 331, 361. 

Congeniality, 131, 240. 

Courtesy, 18, 27, 33, 34, 71, 138, 
i73, 248, 326, 344. 

Death, 31, 37, 57, 65, 80, 106, 

142, 143, 252, 271, 288, 362. 
Disinterestedness, 12, 173, 195, 

*9 6 , 2 95> 355, 359- 



Duty, 8, 10, 22, 25, 29, 32, 39, 41, 
43, 5°, 59, 62, 76, 82, 88, 105, 
116, 123, 127, 156, 182, 186, 197, 
208, 224, 226, 242, 243, 300, 302, 
313, 335, 34i, 343, 346, 366. 

Endurance, 125, 140, 144, 176, 

258, 314, 358- 
Enjoyment, 2, 77, 150, 203, 239. 
Expiation, 109, 133, 147, 178, 214, 

306. 

Faultfinding, 28, 40, 44, 99, 
101, 126, 137, 146, 163, 218, 259, 

292, 301, 320, 330. 
Forbearance, 3, 21, 90, 114, 126, 

*3 X > r 35> x 38, 163, 168, 192, 196, 
236, 256, 296, 324, 334, 339, 344, 

347- 

Forgiveness, 3, 256, 345. 
Friendship, 49, 115, 264. 
Fruitfulness, 30, 153,229,257,265, 
291, 294, 353- 

Giving, 6, 13, 26, 74, 118, 120, 195, 

257. 291, 328, 351, 356, 359. 
Gossip, 40, 14*, 189, 218, 259, 320. 
Gratitude, 2, 36, 107, 179, 357. 

Hope, i, 6r, 302, 325. 

Humility, 28, 34, 70, 87, 90, 137, 

154, 158, 181, 251, 284, 299, 313, 

316, 321, 329, 342. 

Idleness, 82, 156, 254, 274, 338. 
Immortality, 31, 37, 57, 65, 80, 106, 
142, 143, J77, 187, 252, 271, 288, 

293, 362. 



372 TOPICAL 



Influence, 4, 17, 52, 66*67, 75, 79, 
86, 99, 101, 102, no, 115, 124, 
127, 134, 153, 1S4, 255, 287. 

Jesus, the Doctrine of, 66, 96, 
113, 172, 234. 

Love, 24, 34, 44, 45, 46, 49, 64, 73, 
79, 99, 104, 145, 149, 168, 172, 
194, 198, 212, 225, 233, 235, 236, 
245> 253, 276, 290, 297, 344, 354, 
3 6 °, 3 6 3- 

Opportunity, 17, 22, 29, 32, 41, 
43, 55, 59, 61, 63, 70, 72, 76, 88, 
100, 134, 136, 150, 151, 155, 156, 

165, 169, 173, 164, 186, 201, 205, 
219, 226, 232, 233, 236, 268, 269, 
289, 302, 312, 322. 

Patience, 83, 163, 241, 314. 
Peace, 21, 68, 95, 99, in, 220, 230, 

283, 337. 
Perfection, 69. 

Perseverance, 14, 16, 17, 3S, 47. 50, 
55, 6 3, 67, 70, 83, 89, 98, 105, 108, 
112, 119, 123, 136, 144, 153, 157, 
170, 1S0, 197, 211, 241, 25S, 287, 

325, 3 6 4- 
Piety, 94, 185. 

Prayer, 12, 54, 72, 116, 152, 161, 

166, 190, 2S2, 289, 348. 



INDEX. 



Reflection, 95, 154, 167, 249, 324- 
Resolution, 5, 16, 29, 48, 85, 93, 
100, 112, 119, 140, 180, 210, 222, 

Responsibility, 10, 29, 30, 66, 75, 
79, 82, 85, 94, 98, 102, 104, 106, 
no, 116, 117, 134, 139, 151, 174, 
178, 199, 243, 244, 270, 340, 345. 

Reticence, 149, 237. 

Riches, 238, 260, 273, 304, 317. 

Self-Control, 261, 319, 332, 333, 

3 So- 
Self-Reliance, 349. 
Sensitiveness, 20, 114, 193, 321. 
Servants, Consideration of, 45, 91, 

231. 

Temptation, 122, 200. 
Transition, 262. 

Truth, Progress of, 130, 1S3, 263, 
266, 284. 

Unselfishness, 12, 139, 290. 

Work, 5, 25, 39, 156, 216, 254, 
274, 287, 298, 303, 311, 329, 338. 

World, Martyrdom to. 109. 

Worry, 9, 56, 81, 160, 207, 216, 
230, 277. 



4ji ^ 



